PROGRAM W-1733 – Part I
Many of us are very frightened at the prospect of witnessing! Especially on the job! How do we do it? What does it mean to be a witness on our jobs?
It means the same thing that it means anywhere else: we are simply aware that people around us are without Jesus and have no hope of heaven unless they know him. We hold the answer, the only answer to their dilemma, so we should be eager to share that good news.
We also need to remember that Jesus told us “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:14). Not too many people are going to be open to our witness so it’s very important that we be guided by God’s Spirit in sharing. We certainly should take the opportunities that come our way, but we should also be sensitive to know when there are no open ears to hear such that we should not push our verbal witness on someone.
As we join our friend, Fran, today, she is finishing a meeting with a client. Joe is a nice enough guy, but he’s made several obvious passes at Fran in the past and she’s anxious to end the meeting so as not to have to deal with his remarks again.
“Well, Joe,” Fran says, “I think we can feel good about that ad campaign. It’s running well and pulling well.”
“Yeah, Fran, it sure is,” Joe replies. “And most of the credit is yours. You brought it in on budget and on time, and the creative end was really good. It’s been fun working with you, Fran. But I’d really like to get to know you better.”
“You know my work pretty well, Joe. That’s what counts, isn’t it?” Fran says, as she gathers her papers and starts to leave the room. But Joe doesn’t give up easily.
“Listen, Fran,” he says, “you have to know that I’m very attracted to you. Why can’t we at least have dinner tomorrow night and get to really know each other?”
Fran is in a very uncomfortable situation, so she quickly sends up a prayer for wisdom and guidance. She thinks, Marilyn will kill me if I upset this client, but I don’t think I should have dinner alone with him. Even though he’s single, I don’t trust his intentions. He’s interested in more than dinner, I think. I’ll just make an excuse.
She turns to Joe and says, “Oh, tomorrow night? Sorry, Joe, I’m busy tomorrow night. But thanks for the offer!”
“Hey, if tomorrow night doesn’t work, how about Friday evening. You call the shots, Fran; I’ll be available whenever you are,” Joe responds eagerly.
Well, Fran thinks, it really can’t do any harm. I’ll meet him at a restaurant or something, a public place, and leave him there. Maybe I’ll even have a chance to witness to him. That’s it! I’ll use this as an opportunity to witness to Joe.
After rationalizing her behavior, she turns to Joe and accepts his invitation for Friday night.
“Great,” Joe says, “I was beginning to think I’d never get to first base with you, Fran. You’ve made my day. Listen, I’ll pick you up Friday about 7:00.”
“No, Joe, that’s okay. I’ll just meet you somewhere. You name the place,” Fran responds quickly and nervously.
“Now, Fran, my mother taught me better manners than that. If I invite a woman out, I pick her up and take her home. Just give me your address; I’ll be there at 7:00. I promise you a good time,” Joe insists, as he smiles at her and touches her hand.
Not a great idea, Fran, she can hear the Lord whispering in her ear. But Fran feels trapped and, before she knows it, she’s given Joe her address and agreed to his plan for Friday night.
With two days remaining before Friday, Fran has very mixed emotions. She is somewhat flattered by Joe’s attention, even though she’s fairly certain he chases lots of women and there is little depth to his attraction to her. Her friend, Diane, told her some stories about how he came on to another girl in the company, and she got involved with him and it was a major mess. But Fran also feels pressured because he is a very good client and she doesn’t want to upset him.
Ever since she agreed to this date, her communication with Jesus has been stifled. She finds it difficult to talk to him, and secretly almost wishes he weren’t always there. His presence reminds her that she didn’t listen to his warnings and that makes her very uncomfortable. So, she tries to stay very busy and involved in all kinds of activity, so she doesn’t have to face Jesus.
On Friday morning, Fran gets up to have some quiet time with Jesus, as she always does, but it is very plastic and difficult. Finally she says to Jesus, “Look, Lord, the reason I’m seeing Joe tonight is to have an opportunity to witness to him. This may be the perfect opening for me to tell him about you, and I promise—I won’t be afraid or hesitant.”
She has a conversation with herself—a battle within herself—about it. It’s true that Joe needs to know Jesus, but you can’t be a witness to someone when you’ve compromised your standards. She hears that inner voice say to her.
Compromised my standards? she thinks defensively. I haven’t compromised, Lord. I’m not going to do anything but have dinner with him and talk about you. How can that be a compromise?
She thinks about it further and admits that she accepted Joe’s invitation not so much because she wanted to witness to him, but because she felt pressured.
Well, I did feel pressured. I meant to stand up to him, but . . . well, I just didn’t have the right words. I don’t know. It just happened.
After some further inner struggle, Fran says, “Okay, Lord, okay, I’ll call Joe today and cancel. I’ll make up some excuse.” She pauses as she feels uneasy about this plan. “I won’t lie,” Fran is almost at the point of tears. “I’ll just say I can’t have dinner with him. Oh, how do I get myself into these messes?”
At work Fran is very nervous and distracted, dreading to make the phone call to Joe. She knows she has to or she’ll have no peace, so she shuts her office door and dials Joe’s number. His secretary informs her that Joe is out of the office all day but, if he calls in, she’ll have Joe call Fran.
All afternoon Fran waits for the phone to ring—both dreading it and wishing it were over. She says to Jesus, “Well, what am I going to do if I can’t reach Joe?” There doesn’t seem to be any answer from Jesus. He is strangely very quiet.
Finally about 4:30, Fran calls Joe’s office again. “I called earlier,” she says to his assistant, “but he hasn’t returned my call. Is there any way I can reach him?”
“I wish I knew how,” she replies. “I’ve been trying to reach him all day; he has several important messages, but he hasn’t answered his cell phone. I doubt he’s going to this late in the day, but if he does, I’ll tell him you called.”
Fran thanks her and leaves her cell number for Joe in case she has left the office. Five o’clock comes and goes—still no call from Joe. Finally Fran leaves the office. All the way home she feels guilty; she tries to talk to Jesus: “What do I do now, Lord? I’ve tried to reach him.”
After some thought, she says, “You know, since I tried to reach him and couldn’t, that must mean that you want me to witness to Joe tonight. That’s it! This is a sign from you, Lord, so I’m not going to worry about it anymore. I will definitely witness to Joe tonight. That’s why I’m having dinner with him.”
Fran tries to sound cheerful as she attempts to convince herself that the evening with Joe is in God’s plan. She arrives home, gets the kids’ supper, reads their Bible stories to them, and then gets dressed herself. About ten minutes to seven, the phone rings; it’s Joe.
“Hi, Fran,” Joe says cheerily. “Just wanted you to know I’m on my way—calling from the car. I should be there shortly after seven.”
“Oh, Joe, didn’t you get my message?” Fran asks.
“Your message? No, did you call? I’ve been too busy to even check my messages. Why? Anything wrong? You can’t cancel now, Fran; I’m on my way,” Joe tells Fran.
“Uh, yeah, well, it’s okay. Never mind. I’ll see you in a few minutes,” Fran says, as she hangs up. Again she feels trapped and knows she didn’t handle it well.
“Lord, I tried,” Fran says. She tries to make it right. But she recognizes that once she started down the wrong road, it was difficult to change directions.
It would have been much easier to tell Joe from the beginning that I was not interested in the kind of relationship that he has in mind. Now, it’s going to be much tougher, she thinks to herself.
“I wish I had done the right thing at the beginning, Lord,” she says to Jesus. “I was reading Proverbs 4 today, where it says to guard your heart above all else. Guess I haven’t guarded my heart well here, have I? And it also says not to swerve to the right or the left. This is a swerve, Lord. Can you please bail me out?” Fran asks, quietly.
Jesus assures her that he will help her through it, but it won’t be pretty.
“Thanks, Lord, and I will use it as an opportunity to witness. I’ll make something good happen even out of this disaster,” Fran says.
She and Joe go to a restaurant that plays loud music and has a noisy environment. It’s the “in place,” but not very conducive to conversation. As they eat, Fran tries several times to tell Joe about her relationship to Jesus Christ.
“You know, Joe, I haven’t had an opportunity to tell you about the most important thing in my life, and that is my commitment to Jesus,” she begins.
“What, Fran?” Joe seems startled, and embarrassed. “Yeah, I heard you’re very religious. But you like to have a good time anyway, right Fran?” Joe replies, dismissing her effort to talk about Jesus. Every time she tries to say something, Joe appears uninterested and almost irritated.
“Boy, I like this music, don’t you Fran? Really gets you going,” Joe says, and the evening is truly difficult for Fran. In fact, Joe orders several drinks, and by the time dinner is over, he’s not in a condition to drive.
“Look, Joe,” Fran says, “I’m concerned about you driving. You’ve had too much to drink. I think I’ll call for an uber and go on home.”
Joe doesn’t like that idea and, talking in a loud voice, he tries to stop her. At this point, Fran has definitely made up her mind to get her feet back on the right path. “Sorry, Joe, but I can’t run the risk of having an accident. I’ve got two kids at home who depend on me. You shouldn’t drive either, Joe. Call an uber and come back for your car tomorrow,” Fran suggests, as she leaves Joe at the restaurant.
All the way home, Fran talks to Jesus. “Lord, what an embarrassing evening. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise about you tonight. And now I’ve probably really upset Joe. What did I do wrong?”
She thinks of the passage in Matthew 7 which says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6).
Pearls before pigs, Fran thinks. That’s what that passage means. I’ve often wondered. So, when I force my witness on someone who does not have open ears, that’s when I’m throwing my beautiful pearls before pigs. Joe did not have open ears to hear and there was no way I was going to get him to listen. At this point, he has no desire to know the truth, so when I gave him my pearls about my relationship to Jesus, he had no appreciation for them. They’re garbage to him.
“Oh, Lord, what a waste of time and money. I’ve got to pay for this uber fare and the baby sitter, and I don’t have that kind of money to throw around,” Fran says. “I’m so sorry. Please help me to be more sensitive to your voice and more willing to take my stand and live by my convictions.”
Jesus reassures her that though the evening was a waste, she’s learned some good lessons.