Jesus said, “You will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
This simple sentence is the charge that Jesus left to his disciples before he ascended to heaven and left them to take over his work. It is preceded by a promise that they would receive “power from on high” when God sent them the Holy Spirit. In other words, the work that God was charging them with, God was taking the lead on as well. It was simply their job to bear witness to what God was up to and help others to see it too. God would do the rest.
That same promise and charge comes to us today. We receive the Holy Spirit and God empowers us to be part of what God in Christ is up to. We bear witness to that and God will do the rest.
Of course, in spite of the simplicity of it all, we seem to often fall short of the hopes that Jesus lays out. In the book of Acts, where the above verse sits right at the beginning, the faith seems to spread like wildfire. And there have been revivals throughout history where that seemed to happen again. But we seem to live in a time where faith and faith-life is declining and perhaps that clouds our judgment and dampens our spirits. So we stay quiet rather than speak up and share our witness.
This week’s lesson reminds us that God is using each and every one of us to advance God’s work. Our lives matter and the words we share with others matter too. Take some time to think about what God is up to in your life and how God in Christ has made a difference to you. Think about how to say it and in what ways you can share it with others.
Faith comes by hearing. Your voice is the primary vehicle by which many people in your life may come to hear about who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing. How can you be a more effective witness as God calls on you to share the good news?
