Testify

On Sunday morning, I drove from Indianapolis back to New Jersey to testify in a trial.  The drive was 711 miles and took about 11.5 hours… driving the speed limit.  You see, I had this nagging thought that if I were to speed and get stopped, that incident could cast me in a bad light as a witness.  Driving around New Jersey over the next two days, and then back to Indy, the thought persisted.  Of course, in the back of my mind, I knew that the defense attorney would do what he could to confuse me, make me contradict myself, or to discredit me or my testimony.

And in that, I realized that as a Christian, we too have a testimony that the opposing counsel will try to minimize or discredit.  It happens in a similar manner too.  We are tempted to do something that we know isn’t right, but we do it anyway.  No-one will know.  No-one will find out.  It’s no big deal.  Everyone else is doing it.  And the rationales go on and on.

Once we give in, then not only do we have the guilt of the act, but we have the burden of knowing that we may well have discredited ourselves as a witness—which is just what the enemy wants.

As a word of caution, we need to consider the spiritual battles just as much as we consider the earthly ones, if not more so.  For the witness I give for the Gospel—for Jesus—for God— is far more important than any testimony in a trial.  It is far more eternal in its significance.

Think about it.  Be a credible witness.