"This is the message [of God's promised revelation] which we heard from Him and now announce to you, that God is light [He is holy, His message is truthful, He is perfect in righteousness], and in Him there is no darkness at all [no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection]. (1 John 1:5 AMP)
There is a popular saying: “Be a voice not an echo.” This passage in 1 John promotes an entirely different mindset, he seems to say: be an echo, not a voice. A reflection, not an apparition. A reciprocation, not an activation.
John and his friends were profoundly affected by their three years with Jesus and spent the remainder of their lives resounding from that experience. What about us? Are we reverberating the presence of the living God into the world around us? Or are we undercover christians, so clandestine our neighbors will never suspect?
An Instagram account I follow shared a scripture on Easter Sunday, along with the briefest testimony of appreciate for Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I was shocked. I’ve been following the account for two years, they post multiple times a day, though their content is clean, I have never detected the slightest hint of faith.
John and the other disciples lived out their faith quite differently. They were radically committed to proclamation even unto death. They realized they had heard and seen and touched the Savior that the rest of humanity desperately required. They refused to keep their experiences to themselves. And two thousand years later, I’m grateful for their written witness. They lived and shared and wrote as echoes of the holy they had encountered. The question is, will we?
My daughter sharing her testimony at a women’s conference a few weeks ago.
"As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:20 NLT)
Lord, help us speak freely about our faith. Please forgive us for being covert christians, content to keep You to ourselves. Today we realize there is joy in sharing our testimony. Our personal witness may very well open doors of faith for others. Please give us boldness in obedience as we testify to what we’ve seen and heard in You. Amen.
Here’s a great song about being an echo…