The greatest change
Sharing your testimony can be one of the most difficult but rewarding things we can do as believers in Jesus. Sharing with others the story of our conversion - how we came to faith - can be challenging but also a great help to others. But often we feel we have little to offer. In Acts 22, Paul shares his testimony and it is quite amazing! have a read:
Acts 22:1-11
1“Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense.”2When they heard him speak to them in Aramaic, they became very quiet.Then Paul said: 3“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous for God as any of you are today. 4I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, 5as the high priest and all the Council can themselves testify. I even obtained letters from them to their associates in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished.6“About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me. 7I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’8“ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting,’he replied. 9My companions saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who was speaking to me.10“ ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked.“ ‘Get up,’the Lord said, ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do.’11My companions led me by the hand into Damascus, because the brilliance of the light had blinded me.
if you continue reading that chapter, you'll hear how God gave Paul back his sight and used him in powerful ways to serve His Church. It's a stunning testimony that not many of us could relate to perhaps. And we may have heard others which are amazing - of lives turned around from drugs, alcohol addiction, sexual struggles - there are many amazing ways God has rescued us.
But for many, perhaps for most, there are often stories of "well, I just heard the gospel and over time, I came to believe and accept. I can't remember a particular time - it just happened over a few days or months or years. One day I realised "I'm a Christian and God has changed my life!" Or "I grew up in a Christian home and one day decided to make that faith my own. No big revelation or change happened that I can remember!"
It sounds boring, right? But it's not. No work of God is boring or plain in any way! The fact that God can save a wretched sinner like you or me is absolutely incredible. The fact that he can rescue us from our own sin and bring us under his Lordship is the greatest of all miracles.
I hope you will be encouraged to prepare your testimony to share with others. Especially if you feel it is "boring". Don't try to make it sound interesting. Just tell it as it is. You will be amazed how God can use your "ordinary" story in extraordinary ways!
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for saving me. Help me to share my testimony with others - use my words to bring the saving gospel of hope to many others, in Jesus' name.
Amen.