THE ESSENCE OF CHRISTIAN WITNESS

Fr. James Rooney 

We all know the Great Commission of Jesus, that we should go and make disciples of all nations. This process is sometimes called ‘witnessing’ or ‘bearing witness,’ and the first century Jewish Christian would have understood Jesus’ words to have constituted a command rather than a suggestion; we are to bear witness to the truth of Who Jesus is and what He has done to bring us into relationship with Him. 

We also tend to think of witnessing as something which we deliberately set out to do rather than something which we live. Certainly there are times when witnessing IS something which we set out to do, but it is more truly a way of life lived in humble obedience to the Lord Jesus. Everyday of our lives, we bear witness to Jesus, to the truth of who He says He is and to what He teaches and commands us to do. We do this to the degree in which we are willingly conformed into the image and likeness of God, and as we attempt to do it [or fail to make the attempt] the world is watching, waiting to see if our claims about Jesus mean enough to us that we would strive to live them.      

This can be a frightening prospect since we are sinners and we frequently fail in our faithfulness to Christ. This means that our witness is often less than it should be. What is worse though, is that it is  possible for us to call ourselves Christians, even to witness to that Christianity,  and yet live in ways which are no different from those who are not Christian. In other words, it is easy for us not to take our Christian faith seriously; in so doing, we bear false witness to Christ, in that we say by our inconsistency that He is not important, that He  cannot change lives, or that believing in Him really makes no relevant difference in anyone’s life.  We may not believe that, but the way we live and act may very well tell the world exactly that. 

There are two ways in which we can monitor our lives in order to combat this tendency and to bear truthful witness to Christ. First is the need to discipline our tongues. People will often judge Christ and the truth of Christianity by how we speak and what we say. If we engage in profanity, slander, gossip, argumentativeness, we essentially tell the world that Christ does not expect Christians to govern their words.  This, of course is refuted in Scripture [James 1:26, 3:6-20], which means that Christ DOES order us to control our speech.  By not guarding our words, we bear false witness to Christ, because we are claiming by example that what the Bible says is simply not true. 

Secondly, our actions also must be monitored, not just because we are expected to be obedient and moral, but also because they reflect on our Christian witness. Our public actions will necessitate that we take care to avoid any behavior which might be contrary to our expressed Christian moral values. In other words, we don’t want to be inconsistent in what we do [1 John 1:6]. 

However, our public actions can only be meaningful if they reflect what we do in private. Our public words, thoughts, actions, and attitudes are all formed in the privacy of our homes, and how we live our values at home will determine the essence of what the world sees in our lives. Since those around us are capable of discerning inconsistency, they will also recognize when we don’t live what we claim. Our Christian values MUST be lived at home for they will determine the image which we give in public.

We Christians must always remember that because we are Christians, Christ is on display in us. Our words and actions will always reflect on Him, so it is imperative that we strive to bear witness to Him truthfully and honorably, not in hypocrisy. This will necessitate our being always vigilant over our own inclinations and actions. We are sinners, so we must not underestimate our own propensity to sin and the ease with which we can compromise our Christian witness. When we do fail, honest self-assessment, humility and repentance are absolutely necessary.  

To assist us, we should pray each day that the Lord grant us grace to be faithful witnesses who live what we proclaim. St. Ignatius of Antioch worded this desire best when he prayed  “that I may not only speak, but truly will; and that I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be found to be one [Romans III].”   

Finally, we should always strive to “know Christ and the power of His resurrection” [Philippians 3:10]. The ultimate purpose of our moral actions is to open our souls to God and to make us receptive to Him. It is that receptivity to God which we want, not only for ourselves, but for all others, and it is that to which we hope to witness, in word, in deed, and from the depths of our souls.