Before Jesus returned to heaven, He left us with instructions. “Go and make disciples.” For two-thousand years Christ-followers have been doing that. But there is a right way and a wrong way to go about it. We are Christ’s ambassadors and witnesses of the gospel to the rest of the world. The way we live our lives will either attract people to Jesus or turn them away.
So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” – 2 Corinthians 5:20 NLT
The Apostle Paul knew he was God’s witness and made it a point to live a life that would not damage his testimony. He and his companions were conscious of their conduct as they traveled around with the message of the gospel. (1 Thessalonians 2:4-13) Unfortunately, we don’t always follow his example. We often do just the opposite and ruin our witness and damage our testimony.
We remain silent and isolated. – The devil wants to get us alone and keep us quiet. Jesus told us to go, and He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us. Let’s get out there and talk about what Jesus has done for us!
We are boastful and greedy, making it all about us. – As people struggle through life, the last thing they want to hear about is how great we are. Our life should be pointing people to Jesus, not to ourselves!
We don’t concern ourselves with other people’s cares or needs. – God intends for us to care for others. He uses people to help people. If we love Jesus, we must care for the people He gave His life to save.
We put our feet up and let others do the work. – Jesus and His disciples spent their lives serving. They were never a burden to others. There is work to be done and as Christians, we work at everything as if working for the Lord, not for man. (Colossians 3:23)
We blend in with the rest of the world. – A lot of believers don’t look much different than non-believers around them. The world has plenty to offer but it all leads to death. If we don’t stand out as redeemed children of God, people won’t see any benefit in following Jesus.
We are negative with a glass-half-empty attitude. – People don’t need our help in order to feel badly about stuff. All they need to do is turn on the news or scroll through Social Media. If we walk around with a gloom-and-doom attitude, no one will want to hear what we have to say.
We leave out the Good News of the gospel. – As followers of Christ, we’ve been entrusted with the greatest news ever! Sin is the problem, but Jesus is the answer! If we focus on the bad news without ending with the Good News, lives won’t be changed!
Wherever God has placed us is our mission field. We are surrounded by people who need the hope of the gospel. When we call ourselves Christians, people look at us and relate what they see to Jesus. Are we accurately reflecting His love and the hope He offers? Or are we ruining our witness and damaging our testimony?
