January 25
Bible Reading: John 4:27-45
John 4:28-30, “So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ‘Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?’ They went out of the town and were coming to him.”
John 4:39-41, “Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me all that I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.’”
Having attended and taught courses on evangelism, I realized long ago that the most common obstacle to our witnessing efforts is fear. Fear of not knowing what to say or fear of what others might think. With that in mind, let the example of the woman at the well encourage you.
It was a life-changing experience. He unveiled truth to her, about herself, telling her “all (she) ever did” (John 4:29) and about Himself, divulging His identity as the Messiah (John 4:26). She had gone to the well to get water, but she found in Jesus the living water which worked to quench her God-thirsty soul. She was so eager to share the truth about what she’d found that she left for town, leaving behind her water pot. One of the first instincts of a newly saved person is to share their experience with others.
She had a sordid past, lacked any training, and carried no gospel tracts, but what she had was a heart to tell others about Jesus. Her experience reminds us of Peter and John, and their bold declaration before the religious leaders, “we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
It is as Steven Cole has explained: “If you’re anything like me, you struggle at being an effective witness for Jesus Christ. I’ve prayed about it for decades, I’ve read many books, gone to different training seminars, and even taken a seminary class in evangelism, but still I often fail at being a good witness. An hour or two after an opportunity, I think, ‘I should have said such and such,’ but I didn’t think of it at the time. Our text gives us some help in being the kind of witness that God uses from an unlikely source: A woman who is a brand-new convert, who is still living with a man outside of marriage, who knows almost no sound doctrine, and who has not had a training course in how to share her faith. Yet she effectively evangelizes her entire village for Christ!”
Steven Cole
How’s your witness? There are undoubtedly people in your life that need to hear about the wonderful truth you now possess in your relationship with Jesus. Ask God to open doors and embolden you, then go and tell others to come and see!
When it comes to your witnessing efforts, it’s not how much you know but Who you know and how much you want others to know Him!
COME AND SEE
Jesus! dear name, how sweet it sounds!
Replete with balm for all our wounds:
His Word declares His grace is free,
Come, needy sinner, Come and see.
He left the shining courts on high,
Came to our world to bleed and die;
Jesus the Lord hung on a tree,
Come, thoughtless sinner, Come and see.
Your sins did pierce His bleeding heart,
Till death had done its dreadful part;
His boundless love extends to thee,
Come, trembling sinner, Come and see.
His blood can cleanse the foulest stain,
Can make the vilest sinner clean;
This fountain open stands for thee,
Come, guilty sinner, Come and see.
LookingtoJesus 