Had he not been curious about the contents of Frances's workbag, Jackson would never have found the red pen that led to his excited exclamation, "I've got to tell!"
Genuine and effectual witness by born again believers results from a similar exploration and the desire to tell what we've found. The person of God and His doings are the "workbag" into which we venture for the purpose of finding "the unsearchable riches of Christ." There are gifts of infinite variety, measure, and number in His blessed Person, and of His doings the Psalmist declared, "The LORD is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Thy works shall praise Thee, O LORD; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom" (Ephesians 3:8; Psalm 145:9-12).
There are numerous ways we explore God's Person and doings. First, we consistently read and ponder His Word. As a good friend says, the Bible is "Christ in print," and the humble, trusting heart will often find the face of God shining forth from the Scriptural facts of God.
The Holy Spirit also personally illuminates our hearts and minds with the Lord Jesus as we walk with God. Our Lord is with and within us, and the Christian life is precisely that - it is a life, the very Life of Christ revealed to us and within us as trust and submit ourselves to God by faith.
We also encounter the Lord Jesus in our brothers and sisters who share with us "His inheritance in the saints." How often do our fellow believers' faces, words, attitudes, and actions serve as the wings of the wind of God's Spirit, presenting to us our Lord in unmistakable presence, goodness, and supply. I love the Psalmists' sublime description of such glory: "Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore" (Psalm 133:1-3).
Finally, and I want to emphasize this point in our present consideration, Jackson delved into Frances's workbag with the expectation that he would not return disappointed. The universe is God's workbag, as it were. Our lives are His workbag. Today and this moment are His workbag! Born again believers are in Christ and Christ is in us. He is our life. He is the center and circumference of all things in our existence, and He "worketh all things after the counsel of His will." The Bible presents to us an all-involved and dyamically active God in whom we "live and move and have our being." As we often suggest, we are as fish that swim in the ocean that is our Lord. Our response must therefore be the opening of our eyes and our being to the Light that shines in the bright noonday, the dark night, and the twilight of both dawn and the receding day. There are red pens everywhere for the Jacksons who know and expect that our Lord's workbag is full of fascination, wonder, and life changing blessedness. "My expectation is from Him" (Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 3:4; Acts 17:28; Psalm 62:5).
The more red pens we find, we more "I've got to tell!" becomes the consuming passion of our lives. And the more we expect red pens of infinite variety and experience to be waiting for us in God's working in our lives, the more we will find them. Our witness is and must be response to His working, and our ongoing awareness that "every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights" (James 1:17).
"I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless Thee; and I will praise Thy name for ever and ever. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honor of Thy majesty, and of Thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of Thy terrible acts: and I will declare Thy greatness."
(Psalm 145:1-6)
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