The gospel of John tells us of the account of Philip who met Nathanael one day. Philip told Nathanael about Jesus and Nathanael was skeptical whether any good can come out of Nazareth. Philip then says those life changing words “Come and see”. (John 1: 43-46). The invitation to Nathaniel is the invitation we as Christians and the witnesses of Christ must give to others around us – our friends, neighbours, family, and strangers. 

But the question arises, how do we move from sports, movies and the weather to talk about spiritual things. The apostle Paul described his passion for reaching lost people in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23. He was willing to make personal sacrifices and become “a slave to all” in order to share his love for Christ and to witness to the lost. This does not mean that he compromised truth and right. St. Paul kept the purpose before him: “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22). We too need to look deeply into our heart. Because the Holy Spirit lives within us, we have always had a desire to share Jesus with others. We need to confess to the Lord, that we want to be a part of His plan, to be a willing servant, to experience God in deeper ways as He works through our life. “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard”(Acts 4: 20).

Sharing Jesus is not a solo sport; it is partnership—with Christ. We must worship Jesus Christ as Lord of our life. The essential ingredients for a true partnership are trust and commitment. We must witness with trust in the power of God. We must also be committed to do our part. Many Christians tend to be spectators who admire the efforts of others who proclaim the gospel and witness. The number one reason for not witnessing is fear of rejection. This fear is partly the fault of the words and phrases we use to enlist people to witness. We encourage people to be soul-winners or to bring people to Christ. Many Christians feel that we actually play a role in the transformation of a person from the darkness of sin to the light of life in Christ. The truth is, God doesn’t ask believers to cause the salvation of a person’s soul. Sharing your faith doesn’t mean that you actually bring someone to the Lord. God is the one who takes these actions. Remember, this is the one area of our Christian life in which we cannot fail. Even if our voice trembles, our hands shake, we stumble over words, we struggle to make our witness clear, or our timing is poor, God can still use us. However, God cannot use our silence. When David was preparing to go for battle with Goliath, Saul discouraged him. “You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young” (1 Sam. 17:33). David described to Saul the dangers he had faced when lions and bears attacked flocks of sheep. He assured Saul, “The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine” (1 Sam. 17:37). God goes with us to fight our battles as we give him witness. People who do not surrender their lives to Christ when we witnessed to them do not reject us. They reject Jesus. They reject God’s Word. It is never about us. If we witness to someone tomorrow who becomes a leading national evangelist, can we take credit for that? No. If someone we witness to, the next day rejects Christ, is it our fault? No. In this area of our life, we can’t take credit for the victories or the rejections. An abundance of knowledge is not required to be God’s instrument in guiding a person to new life in Jesus.

The only success in getting our friends to Christ is GOD’S WORD + GOD’S POWER + OUR OBEDIENCE