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"God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast and when I run, I feel his pleasure."

Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire

Witness

At a recent athletics event I sat at dinner with one athlete I knew and two that I did not. The athlete I knew introduced me to the others as “Stuart who leads Bible Studies at meets”. She could have said all sorts of things about me but in a simple sentence she referred to the Christian presence in athletics and identified herself with it.

Some people have a great gift for evangelism. Most of us don’t. We are called simply to be witnesses. A witness in court does not have to present the case for the defence or the prosecution and convince the judge. A witness simply describes what they have seen or experienced.

When God calls us to be witnesses he does not expect us to deliver a lecture on the intellectual deficiency of atheism, rather he expects us to share with our friends the difference it makes to know Jesus.

I remember once sitting with three Christian golfers. One said that she had become a Christian because her two friends were “always talking about Jesus”. The other two looked surprised and said they never remember talking to their friend about Jesus! The explanation is simple. The two Christians did not set out to evangelise their friend, they were simply themselves around their friend and talked about Jesus because he was part of their lives, without even realizing they were doing it.

Being a witness is just being yourself and sharing your experience of Jesus

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