June 4 - Testify

June 4 – Testify

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.

“All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them. I did not tell you this from the beginning because I was with you, (John 15:26-16:4)

Jesus wanted those who were closest to Him to tell the world about what they knew.  The Spirit of Truth would testify and so would those who had been with Him from the beginning.

Those who are closest to us will be the ones to tell others about who we are.  This is the fruit of our lives.  Your children daily proclaim to the world what living with you is really like – they show respect if you treat them with respect and expect the same in return.  They show compassion if they learn it from you, tolerance if you are open-minded or bigotry if you are narrow-minded.  They learn love from you, the people they are closest to and then, in turn, are able to show that to the world.

Our friends reflect our lives as well.  They recognize safety in a relationship and in turn can walk away to offer that to another.  Our co-workers choose to work well or poorly based on how we live with them in the workplace.  All of these relationships are the fruit of our lives.

Jesus knew that the fruit of His life would come from how He impacted His disciples and then as the Spirit came into the world and testified to His great works.  Two thousand years later, the fruit that came from His short time on earth is still producing great things – transformed lives that continue to testify about the relationship that can be had with the Creator of everything.