When I got up this morning I didn’t know what I wanted to write about. Then when I opened my Bible app on my phone to see the verse of the day, I had my idea.
Here in the Bible Belt of the Southern United States, you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of Jesus. But I’d be willing to bet you can find people who don’t really know Jesus.
In his book, How a 25-Year-Old Learned He Wasn’t the Only One Going to Heaven, my friend Daniel talks about the difference in knowing facts about someone and really knowing someone. I can look up facts about, say, Robert Downey Jr., and be able to spout them back to you, but that doesn’t mean I know him. The only way to really know him would be to spend time with him. The next best thing would be to talk to someone who is close to him.
Is it not the same thing with Jesus? We can read the Bible and read facts about Him, but if we don’t really spend time getting to know Him, we don’t really know Him. But here’s the cool part. Chances are slim to none that I will ever meet Robert Downey Jr., or any of his close friends or family. However, every person on earth has a chance to get to know Jesus. How is this possible?
First off, we have information about Him in the Bible. We may not can sit down and speak to His closest friends and family face to face, but we have their words describing Him and telling us all about Him. But we also have His Spirit. The Spirit dwells in all of us, and speaks to our hearts to help us know Him better. And we have each other. Since the Spirit dwells in us, we have a way to introduce Him to others. We can give them the Bible, but we can also share Him through our own lives. We can be that friend, that family, that tells someone else about Him.
It’s not going to look the same for all of us. That same Spirit that dwells in us has given us each different gifts. Some are blessed to be public speakers who can give speeches or lessons that hold the attention of their audiences and give information in a way that’s easy to understand. Some are more gifted with the written word, thoughts and ideas flowing from head to fingers to share with others through books, articles, letters, social media posts, cards. Still others have the “gift of gab”, easily able to strike up a conversation with a total stranger in the middle of the Walmarts, giving testimony about who Jesus is to them. Then there are those who show the people around them who Jesus is by no more than their actions, in how they act as His hands and feet, ministering and showing love, often in unheralded, unacknowledged ways.
The promise given to the apostles in Acts 1:8 still holds true for us today. As God’s children, the power of the Holy Spirit resides in us, as Paul talks about in Romans 8. The Spirit leads us and helps us. And we are still to be His messengers. Like I said, here where I live, most people know about Jesus, but not everyone truly knows Him. It’s our job, as the children of God, filled with His Spirit, to introduce others to Him, to help them truly know Him. Whether we help them get to know Him through our speech, our written word, or our actions, we, along with the help of the Spirit, bear witness of Him to those around us. Maybe it’s even just by being supportive of those who are actively ministering. Daniel and I have a joke that I am unofficial ministerial support staff. (A real fancy way of saying he runs a lot of stuff by me for feedback and venting 😉) So whether you are a preacher, teacher, public speaker, blog writer, social media warrior, letter/card sender, conversation starter, casserole bringer, sick people visitor, errand runner, care giver, volunteer worker, sympathetic listener, smile sharer, or unofficial support staff, whatever it is your doing is able to helping others know not just who Jesus is, but to know Jesus.
Be His witness.
