D
When I was young and dumb, Christians told me to live my life as a testimony. I can't go back in time and ask them what they meant by that, but I took it to mean "be nice," because Christians are to be nice. At work, I was usually nice. (Believe it or not, I'm usually nice by default.) When I wasn't being nice, it wasn't even that I was being mean. I was being frantic. A deadline was approaching fast, and I wasn't sure I could get the work done in time, and being nice, I always wanted the work done on time and done well. I did get the part where whatever I did was for God, so I really did work by that guideline.
Well, 20+ years later, on my last day working for someone else, one of my co-workers, (also a nice guy), wore a Christian T-shirt, and I smiled and told him I never knew he was a Christian, and I was one too. And we both had a chuckle because we both knew the other was nice, but didn't know he/she was Christian too. We knew each other for several years by then. That about summed up 20+ years of having my life as a testimony.
I just read Spurgeon's devotional and learned this is what witnessing is supposed to look like.
Now when future hubby first became a believer, (I didn't know him back then), he took it seriously, and witnessed to all the customers that day. Little problem developed. He too was young and dumb, so he spent hours witnessing to customers instead of doing what he was supposed to be doing -- giving them heat! He was a heating mechanic. What would you do if you had a heating mechanic coming into your house to give you heat, but, instead, gave you a one-hour sermon on the glory of God? So, when he returned back to the company at the end of the day, he was fired. (That night, he repented, and asked forgiveness of his boss the next day, when he was returning the company's tools. The boss was so impressed, he hired him again with full understanding he's a heating mechanic, not an evangelist.)
So, obviously, not good to preach at work and being nice doesn't work. What are we supposed to do?
This isn't just about work. This is also about our politics, waiting for a bus, doctor's appointments, or spending time with family, friends, or strangers. I'm asking for practical advice. And I'm asking how you struggle with this, not how everyone else should do it, nor 3-20 other verses that say the same thing.
Well, 20+ years later, on my last day working for someone else, one of my co-workers, (also a nice guy), wore a Christian T-shirt, and I smiled and told him I never knew he was a Christian, and I was one too. And we both had a chuckle because we both knew the other was nice, but didn't know he/she was Christian too. We knew each other for several years by then. That about summed up 20+ years of having my life as a testimony.
I just read Spurgeon's devotional and learned this is what witnessing is supposed to look like.
"And ye shall be witnesses unto me."
Acts 1:8
In order to learn how to discharge your duty as a witness for Christ, look at his example. He is always witnessing: by the well of Samaria, or in the Temple of Jerusalem: by the lake of Gennesaret, or on the mountain's brow. He is witnessing night and day; his mighty prayers are as vocal to God as his daily services. He witnesses under all circumstances; Scribes and Pharisees cannot shut his mouth; even before Pilate he witnesses a good confession. He witnesses so clearly, and distinctly that there is no mistake in him. Christian, make your life a clear testimony. Be you as the brook wherein you may see every stone at the bottom--not as the muddy creek, of which you only see the surface--but clear and transparent, so that your heart's love to God and man may be visible to all. You need not say, "I am true:" be true. Boast not of integrity, but be upright. So shall your testimony be such that men cannot help seeing it. Never, for fear of feeble man, restrain your witness. Your lips have been warmed with a coal from off the altar; let them speak as like heaven-touched lips should do. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand." Watch not the clouds, consult not the wind--in season and out of season witness for the Saviour, and if it shall come to pass that for Christ's sake and the gospel's you shall endure suffering in any shape, shrink not, but rejoice in the honour thus conferred upon you, that you are counted worthy to suffer with your Lord; and joy also in this--that your sufferings, your losses, and persecutions shall make you a platform, from which the more vigorously and with greater power you shall witness for Christ Jesus. Study your great Exemplar, and be filled with his Spirit. Remember that you need much teaching, much upholding, much grace, and much humility, if your witnessing is to be to your Master's glory.
Acts 1:8
In order to learn how to discharge your duty as a witness for Christ, look at his example. He is always witnessing: by the well of Samaria, or in the Temple of Jerusalem: by the lake of Gennesaret, or on the mountain's brow. He is witnessing night and day; his mighty prayers are as vocal to God as his daily services. He witnesses under all circumstances; Scribes and Pharisees cannot shut his mouth; even before Pilate he witnesses a good confession. He witnesses so clearly, and distinctly that there is no mistake in him. Christian, make your life a clear testimony. Be you as the brook wherein you may see every stone at the bottom--not as the muddy creek, of which you only see the surface--but clear and transparent, so that your heart's love to God and man may be visible to all. You need not say, "I am true:" be true. Boast not of integrity, but be upright. So shall your testimony be such that men cannot help seeing it. Never, for fear of feeble man, restrain your witness. Your lips have been warmed with a coal from off the altar; let them speak as like heaven-touched lips should do. "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand." Watch not the clouds, consult not the wind--in season and out of season witness for the Saviour, and if it shall come to pass that for Christ's sake and the gospel's you shall endure suffering in any shape, shrink not, but rejoice in the honour thus conferred upon you, that you are counted worthy to suffer with your Lord; and joy also in this--that your sufferings, your losses, and persecutions shall make you a platform, from which the more vigorously and with greater power you shall witness for Christ Jesus. Study your great Exemplar, and be filled with his Spirit. Remember that you need much teaching, much upholding, much grace, and much humility, if your witnessing is to be to your Master's glory.
Now when future hubby first became a believer, (I didn't know him back then), he took it seriously, and witnessed to all the customers that day. Little problem developed. He too was young and dumb, so he spent hours witnessing to customers instead of doing what he was supposed to be doing -- giving them heat! He was a heating mechanic. What would you do if you had a heating mechanic coming into your house to give you heat, but, instead, gave you a one-hour sermon on the glory of God? So, when he returned back to the company at the end of the day, he was fired. (That night, he repented, and asked forgiveness of his boss the next day, when he was returning the company's tools. The boss was so impressed, he hired him again with full understanding he's a heating mechanic, not an evangelist.)
So, obviously, not good to preach at work and being nice doesn't work. What are we supposed to do?
This isn't just about work. This is also about our politics, waiting for a bus, doctor's appointments, or spending time with family, friends, or strangers. I'm asking for practical advice. And I'm asking how you struggle with this, not how everyone else should do it, nor 3-20 other verses that say the same thing.