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Cindy Howard was raised in a Christian home and made a personal commitment to Christ in high school. But when she went away to college, she quickly got caught up in the campus party lifestyle. She always intended to find a good church and a Bible study, but somehow it never happened. By the end of her freshman year, Cindy had the reputation of a party girl who could drink a lot of alcohol. By the time she graduated from college, few, if any, of her college friends even knew that she was a Christian.
Sadly, Cindy Howard's example isn't an isolated one. As believers in Jesus Christ, our lives will bear a witness—but our witness can be either positive or negative.
Jeremiah ministered just prior to the Babylonian exile (627-580 B.C.). Like many other prophets, he urged the people to return to God's ways (Jer. 6:16). But they refused to do so! Even though God had sent previous prophets (the “watchmen” in v. 17), the people persisted in their sin. Rather than destroy all false idols, the Israelites had adopted many perverse pagan practices. Rather than trust the Lord to protect them, the Israelites had entered into dangerous foreign alliances.
The consequences of their sin were far-reaching. Instead of being a witness to the nations, we find that the nations were called upon to testify against Israel in the courtroom of God's justice and to hear His sentence against his people (v. 18). This is indeed a sad point in the nation's history.
Fortunately, Jeremiah prophesied of God's wonderful restoration. Jeremiah 33 contains some of the most glorious promises of restoration, although the gruesome horrors of the destruction of Jerusalem and exile are not excluded
(vv. 4-5, 10). Yet after the Exile, God promised to reunite Judah and Israel and to rebuild Jeru-salem in such a way as to display His glory to the surrounding nations (v. 9). The very nations that had been called upon to testify against Israel would at some point rejoice because of what God has done in and for Israel.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
It can be easy to think of witnessing for Christ in terms of what we say to other people, but it is often what we actually do that has the greatest impact.
To be sure, we are called to witness in both word and deed. Still, it's always a good idea to take some time to ask
if our behavior lines up with
our words. In other words, do we walk the talk? We read in
1 Peter 3:13-16 that even our accusers should give glory to God because of our good deeds.
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