Ruining your Witness
Almost a year ago a coworker and I were at a restaurant for lunch. We had just been seated and as we began to order something happened between my coworker and the waiter. I don’t know if it was the way he responded to her question that started it or if it was the way she asked the question that offended him. Either way, it was the beginning of the end. Shortly thereafter, we got a new server and the manager went out of her way to make the situation right…But it didn’t matter. It was already too late. My coworker was done. The waiter ruined her experience and as a result it colored her opinion of the restaurant. Almost a year later she has never returned to that place.
The dictionary defines ruin as causing great and usually irreparable damage and harm. Irreparable is a serious term… as in you can’t fix it. How many times have we done this with our witness? Either by doing or saying something that compromised the Christian values we profess to hold dear. How many times have we been the server and colored someone else’s perspective of God in a negative way? We preach Jesus loud so people know we follow him and then those same people see us act like we don’t know him. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”
In this present day our crowd of people are our friends, coworkers, family etc. and really anybody we know that’s not saved. This verse says that we should remove EVERY weight…meaning any and everything that could deter us from following Christ wholeheartedly and ruin our witness. I believe God said EVERY weight because there is nothing that is more important than our witness. That is the very thing God put us here to do. Actually, that’s the only thing. Whatever bad habits were holding on to, be it cursing people out, laziness, gossiping, lack of discipline, saying or doing things you shouldn’t… whatever it is, it’s time to let it go. When we take our eyes off Jesus and fall into sin we cannot direct people to him. You can’t tell people to follow someone that you’re not. You are either drawing people to Jesus or you’re leading them away.
I was doing my bible study homework and I came across this question... “Who in your life is God calling to faith in him through your witness?”