Leaving your Mark

Sitting with a friend over coffee, I was intrigued by what he told me. Having spent the last few weeks at Charis speaking about sharing our faith, the idea of witnessing to others was fresh in my mind when he asked if I realised the Greek word for witness is ‘martus’ which literally means ‘to leave a mark’. It is from where we get the word martyr. What a powerful concept!

The martyr leaves his mark through the testimony of the cause for which he dies. But how does that work for you and me?  Too often we place our emphasis on sharing faith on the verbal – what we say, but is that the point? For those who have died for what they believe, their greatest impact is not the words but the actions and maybe that is where our lesson needs to be learned. Over the years I have spoken thousands of words in conversations and preaching and speaking, but the biggest influence of my life on others has come not from what I’ve said, but rather what I have done or how I have responded.  In the main, people are put off by words, but moved by actions. It’s not what we say that impacts people, it’s what we do.

Tony Campolo tells the story of what his mother used to say to him when he was young. Regarding this life she often said, ‘Tis one life and will soon be past, only what’s done for Jesus will last.’ It does us no harm to pause and reflect on the type of mark we are leaving and whether the ‘martus’ of our lives is having the influence we will be ultimately happy with. To bear witness for Christ and leave his mark on people’s lives surely means that something of his nature is left with people after we have moved away and that is the mark we are required to leave