Testify

1 John 1:1-4, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our  joy complete.”

The disciples had the privilege of being able to SEE Jesus before and after His death and resurrection.  They were able to participate first hand in many miracles and wonders that we could never imagine.  

John 21:25 says, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

So—these guys testified about what they had seen and heard Jesus do.

They made known all of these things, so that we could have fellowship with Jesus.

John ended with “We write this to make our joy complete.” These guys knew that there is nothing in Heaven or on Earth that is more important than choosing Christ, and they were willing to put EVERYTHING on the line to proclaim Jesus as Lord.  They wanted to give evidence of all they had seen and heard to declare or make known Jesus to us so that we could be in partnership with them.  That in turn means that it is our responsibility to continue in testifying and proclaiming Jesus to others!

We will not or cannot, proclaim Jesus as Lord if we have not come to that conclusion ourselves.

I accepted Jesus as my Savior on February 15, 1990.  That decision changed my life!  I can’t tell you how grateful I am that someone told me about Him.  Now because someone shared with me, it is my responsibility to share Him with others.

Truly, as we go out into the world, one of the best ways to testify about Christ is our own story.  No one can argue with you about what He’s done in your life.  That’s what the disciples did, that’s what we can do.

A quote by St. Francis of Assisi says, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”  He also said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.”  I love these quotes because they tell us that not only are we to testify about Him to the world by telling, but also in our daily lives as we just do life.

1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” 

In all our dealings, whether in word or deed, we must testify who Jesus is; proclaiming Him in every area of our lives and in everything we do and for everyone we meet.