Just like the first disciples, you and I have been called to testify. We understand that “Go into all the world and preach the gospel” is for every disciple who has ever followed Jesus. We cannot evade the testimonial burden even though it frightens us.

Yet evade we do. There is, perhaps, no disobedience more characteristic of the modern church than evangelistic muteness. Our chronic laryngitis when it comes to matters of faith is widely lamented and widely ignored. We are afraid of a world that does not want to hear our witness. We feel ill equipped to witness in a world that seems so much more sophisticated than in past times. And, I suspect, we feel embarrassed by compromised lives that cannot back up our testimonial words.

Since we can’t say something well, we’ve decided it is better to say nothing at all.

But have things really worsened so much from New Testament times—worsened enough to explain and justify our testimonial silence? Our world is hostile to the Christian message, but at least they’re not throwing us to the lions! And it’s true we’re not always “prepared to give an answer for the hope that is within us,” but the first Christians were “unschooled, ordinary men” (Acts 4:13) who hadn’t honed their witness in seminaries or read the latest book on apologetics. And we know way too much about the apostles—their stubbornness and pride and ambition—to believe it was the stellar quality of their lives that gave validity and power to their witness.

Yet they managed to be the light of the world, turning it upside down with the boldness and persistence of their testimony, while we hide our faith under the nearest bowl.

The difference in their witness and ours is not the different worlds we live in, a disparity in the knowledge we bring to the witnessing task, or a discrepancy in the lives we live. The difference is that their testimony was Spirit-fueled while ours, too often, is not. They believed the Spirit was busy witnessing to a lost world about the truth of Jesus, recognizing his hand at work in the Ethiopian, Saul, Cornelius, and the Antioch church. And they understood that when they witnessed, it would be by the Spirit’s wisdom, with the Spirit’s words, through the Spirit’s emboldening power.

Sadly, we’re not quite so sure.

But what if it’s true? What if the same Spirit is at work witnessing to our world today?

“When the Paraclete comes . . . he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning” (John 15:26, 27).

I believe the Spirit is just as active in his testimony today as he ever was. I see evidence of him standing up and speaking up at every opportunity. He does it through the archaeologist’s spade, the NFL coach’s statement of faith, the latest discoveries of science, the harsh realities of struggle and sickness and death in every life, and the writings of the most unlikely authors. He does it through movies and music. He does it in a thousand different ways for a million different people every day. He is the stubborn, constant, relentless voice speaking up for Jesus even in a world as broken as ours—especially in a world as broken as ours.

The fact that we do not hear his witnessing voice or recognize his testifying work says nothing about him and much about us. At the least, it says too many believers today wouldn’t recognize the Spirit’s fingerprints on the world if those ridges and swirls stood up and barked. It says that, in circumstances where the first Christians would immediately identify and give credit to the Holy Spirit, we remain oblivious, unaware, and insensible of the Spirit’s activity. Shame on us! Let’s open our eyes not just to see the “fields ripe unto harvest” but to see the Spirit already hard at work in them.

But more, the Spirit is ready, willing, and eager to do for our witness what he did for theirs: make us fearless in speaking up for Christ, give us words to say and wisdom in saying them, grant us eyes to see who is ready to hear and when the time is right. He is eager to become our partner in testimony.

We are not alone—ours is not the only voice bearing witness to the light. And we are not alone—when the time comes for us to speak, the Spirit will be present with us, overcoming our fears and uncertainties. His voice will speak with and in and through our voices, enhancing our timid testimony with the power of the voice that called this world into being. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells