Firsthand Faith 02
How do we know that our faith, our belief system about who God is, is the right one? One way is through trusting the reports of eyewitnesses. Even today in courts of law, the power of an eyewitness testimony, a person giving testimony to twelve people that have never met before, can bring a conviction or an acquittal.
The power of an eyewitness, of firsthand testimony is so powerful that one of the Ten Commandments is given to make sure this powerful tool is not misused. “Do not bear false witness (testimony) against your neighbor.” Why is this warning important? Because our words have power to move people to decisions that affect people’s lives. This is not just a prohibition against lying. This is a warning not to devastate a person’s life by saying something untrue about them.
Everything we know about history we know from the reports of eyewitnesses. I never met Lincoln or Washington or Winston Churchill. I take the word of eyewitnesses, their testimony written down in history books.
The entire record of Scripture is based on eyewitness testimony, and proclaimed historically through thousands of pages of written words we call “The Holy Bible.” We never met Moses, but we trust the word and writings of those who did.
But we also interact with that testimony and bear witness to it in our own lives. My life would not and did not change direction because I learned about George Washington defeating the British army in the Revolutionary War. But it did change when I learned about Jesus, and came to understand that He really lived, really died sacrificially and really rose from the dead. My life bears witness to the truth of that.
When the words of Scripture say something and I believe them and then act on that belief, the things that happen are exactly what Scripture said would happen. It doesn’t fail. The witnesses to the life of Jesus didn’t lie.
So it leaves us with a question. What is your testimony to the life and power of Jesus? To some, it is no more than learning the facts about our first president. To others there was a transformation that took place at some point that changed the trajectory of life.
Your testimony, your witness to Jesus is not just part of your story; it’s also a part of His as the Holy Spirit continues to bear witness to the truth of this in our life and spirit.
And it’s too good to keep to yourself!
FOR MEDITATION: And they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11
