You can place in the [ ] whoever – including yourself. However, how often have we heard this phrase spoken about someone we know, knew? How often would we hear it uttered about ourselves? And what does this say about who we are??? (And yes, I do realize I talk about our witness, multiple times… always a new understanding and/or application.)
“To witness means to profess Christ and to proclaim Him: The witness of the resurrection” is the witness of Jesus in His resurrection. (Acts 2:32)” Google
Personally I wince at any comment that would seem to question if I was a Christian, because it would mean that my witness is being called into question. And if my witness isn’t true to who I am, what I believe, and how I apply and exemplify my beliefs… what am I saying? I believe that when it comes to demonstrating that we are Christians, there is no equivocation, no compromise we should ever express. Never forget the old saying that we may be the only Bible someone else will ever read/see.
Sometimes I really don’t think we appreciate the affect our witness provides. It isn’t just at church, or just when we are on an evangelistic or missionary activity. I believe that the most effective and profound demonstration of who we are is in our everyday lives. How we express both in our words as well as our actions Who we believe and how we go about incorporating this into every area of our lives. Remember… we do live in a fishbowl. One of my favorite scriptures related to this is:
“To everyone, then, who gives witness to Me before men, I will give witness before My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32)
So the Who is Jesus – that’s what we witness: Who He is in our lives and how He has impacted who we are becoming. I do believe that the bad rap of a hypocrite occurs when we don’t embrace a totality lifestyle understanding of witness. When we only say the words but don’t act on them, we give the wrong impression. This is why most people believe our actions before our words.
Remember that our words and actions ALWAYS reflect who we are and how we go about being us. Being a witness is no small thing and it is not relegated to certain times and places, it is to be a living witness at all times and in all places.
[If you are interested in a more in depth consideration of the word ‘witness’, this site is a great aid: https://biblehub.com/topical/w/witness.htm – as an aside, there are over 295 references to witness in scripture.]
