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Much has been said about our culture’s obsession with instant gratification. We are used to having things quickly. Thanks to Amazon, it seems we can get almost anything we want delivered within a few days. Book, music, and movies can be downloaded to our devices almost instantly. Within a minute or two, we can cook a complete meal in the microwave oven and with a few more minutes, we can have our favorite restaurant drop a prepared meal off at our doorstep.  From the vantage point of history, we rarely have to wait long for what we desire, especially when compared to the months of work and toil that our ancestors had to plod through just to get their most basic needs met.

It is perhaps unsurprising then, that we seem to have a patience problem. If we are used to getting what we want in record speed, we are more likely to be frustrated when someone seems to delay the satisfaction of our desires. This may manifest itself in irritation with another driver who goes just a little two slowly for our taste, or disdain for the cashier whose mistakes prevent us from breezing through our errands. We are quick to demand that our needs be met on our timetable; we seemingly can’t be bothered to wait for anyone or anything. 

However, despite our focus on immediacy, there will be times in our lives where we will have to wait. Some things can’t be rushed, no matter how much we try. We may be waiting for the outcome of a medical procedure, or God to provide our next place of employment; we may be waiting for the relationship with our adult child to be restored, or for a beloved friend to come to saving knowledge of Christ. It may that we are waiting for the day when our physical pain will be relieved or the day that our broken heart will once again feel whole. Whatever the specifics of the situation, all of us can anticipate that at some point, no matter how much we may not want to, we will have to wait. 

Amidst these difficult circumstances, it is important that we wait well. As Christians, it is easy to tell ourselves that we are waiting on God as we face pain and challenges. However, if we are not careful, what we are really waiting on is for things to be different than they are. Instead of waiting on God, we are passing time until He changes our circumstances. We know this is the case when our peace, confidence, solace, and refuge are not in the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever, but instead, our hope is the joy we anticipate when the road we walk is a little less bumpy, and the hills we climb a little less steep. Of course, for the child of God, there is a day when all will be made right and everlasting joy will be ours forever, but this time is not a day that we will see on Earth. If we are waiting on God, we will find our satisfaction and contentment in Him even if our circumstances never change. Waiting well means that if our situation stays the same or it does not, we are quick to proclaim His mercies and to trust in His goodness, confident that God’s good plan is at work in our lives. Waiting well means our strength is renewed in Him; that His kindness and His graces propel us forward, even when our pain attempts to compel us to quit. 

For all of us, there are times where we be forced to wait; there will be situations where a change in circumstance is not contingent upon us. In those moments, and in all the other ones, may we wait well.  May we cling to God’s character rather than being consumed by our circumstances. May we hold fast to His promises, knowing that He will complete the good work He has begun (Phil. 1:6) Instead of just waiting for what we want, but we wait on the One who withholds no good thing from His faithful kids (Ps. 84:11), knowing that as we do so, even our waiting can honor God.

…but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. – Isaiah 40:31

Recently, my church has been studying the book of Acts. You can’t get far in this account of the early Church without realizing the important role that early Christians played in spreading the Gospel message, both in their communities and throughout the known world. Of course, the early Christians were not always met with a warm response to the message that they carried, and in fact, often encountered outright hostility and sometimes violence. Under normal circumstances, this should have stopped the message in its track. However, this was not a normal message, and these were not normal circumstances. God used the persecution that the Christians experienced to drive them from their homes and to further spread the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

These early days of evangelism could not have been easy. Not only was the Church dealing with the aforementioned hostility, but there was little in the way of preparation for the task that they set out to do. There was no formal missionary training, no “10 steps for leading a revival.” Their resources in terms of money, talent, and experience were limited, and yet God used them to “turn the world” on its head. 

As they engaged in their evangelistic task within this framework – these early Christians were called to simply be faithful witnesses (1 Thess 2:4).  Most of the early disciples of Christ didn’t have much in terms of reputation or renown, but what they did have was a testimony of what Christ had accomplished while He walked this Earth, and what He had done in each of their lives. And this was enough. This is what they were to share. What happened as a result wasn’t their responsibility – they were to recount what they knew and God, through their faithful obedience, would accomplish His purposes (1 Cor 1:26-31). 

It works the same in evangelism today. We are called to bear witness, and God takes on the responsibility of using that testimony to draw others into a right relationship with Him. What does a faithful witness look like? In the US judicial system, they are those who uphold their oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” In our evangelism, we should do the same.

Tell The Truth

If we are to be a faithful witness for Christ, we need to tell others what God has accomplished – both in history and in terms of our very own lives. Often this may require some humility. We may not like to think about who we were before we became a Christian. We may not want to reveal the extent of our sin; we may not like even facing the reality of it ourselves. But when we bear witness to Christ, we need to testify to what we have seen and heard – and we are the foremost expert on what God has done in our own hearts to make them more like His Son. We need to clearly and deliberately share with others that we are not merely a “good person” who believes in Christ because it “works for us.” Instead, we need to testify that we were a sinner in need of a Savior and because of what Christ did for us through His death and resurrection, we are now redeemed to live a life for Him. This life of following Christ is not always easy, and in fact, God promised it wouldn’t be, and we need to tell the truth about that too. Let us not try to win people to Christ without sharing with them the cost. After all, Christ caution against this very thing (Luke 14:25-33). Let’s be clear on what God saved us from, and what God calls us too. And let’s trust that even if we don’t think that makes for a very effective “sales pitch,” God can use our faithful witness to bring others to Him. 

The Whole Truth

In a United States court of law, the second thing that a witness attests to is that they will tell the whole truth.  This is a commitment that is also important in our evangelism. We must be sure that we do not add or detract from the Gospel. We may be tempted to soften Jesus’ call to take up crosses and follow Him in order to make our evangelism more palatable and therefore seemingly “more successful.” Resist this temptation!  Our Gospel presentations need to clearly present the costs of becoming Christ’s disciple, even if we think it will make people more resistant to accepting Him as Savior. After all, this is what Jesus did when He called people to follow Him – He delineated the costs and the sacrifices. Those who were His followed; those who weren’t at least knew what it was that they were rejecting. 

And Nothing But The Truth

If we are not tempted to skirt the costs of discipleship when presenting the Gospel, we may be inclined to instead add to Christ’s call, becoming like the Pharisees by adding on extra burdens based on our understanding of secondary or even tertiary issues. Don’t do this either! There may be times to discuss and debate interpretations and application of detailed doctrinal issues, but when we are presenting the Gospel to non-believers this is probably not the time. Paul provides us a great model here. His evangelism efforts were focused on those things that were of “first importance.” (I Cor 15:3-4) Similarly, he frequently taught against being caught up in “foolish controversies” (Titus 3:9). It is likely ineffective to spend our evangelism efforts arguing with non-Christians about issues that are of secondary importance. The Gospel is what has the power to save (Ro 1:16). That is what our message needs to consist of. 

Although there may be a variety of reasons that people are reluctant to engage in the task of evangelism, one of the most common ones may be because they don’t know what to say. Let us abandon this excuse! Instead let us remember that our job is to be faithful witnesses – to accurately attest to the truth of the Gospel and the change that it has wrought in our life through the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we do this, let us trust that even if we don’t see the fruit of our testimony, God is using our faithful obedience in the lives of those who don’t believe. And one day, we will meet in Heaven people who came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through our commitment to frequently and faithfully testify to Who He is. 

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*It is helpful to note that a witness at a trial isn’t responsible for conviction. Neither are we as we attest to the truth of the Gospel (1 Thess. 2:4). We are simply tasked with attesting to what we know is true – and trust that God will work through our faithful obedience to accomplish His purposes (1 Cor. 1:26-31)