This week, BSF covered the story of Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. A point that stood out from the night’s lecture was “[Some] Christians think that their story is not worth sharing because they feel their story is not as painful and therefore not effective as someone else’s. When we think this way, we forget that our testimony is not about us, it’s about Jesus. Because each one of our stories is unique, they all reveal different attributes about who Jesus is. The Holy Spirit can work through the sharing of our stories to give people spiritual sight.”
This hit home for me because I struggled with the same thing. When I got picked to share a testimony with the church, I thought “What do I have to share with the church? I don’t have anything exciting or spectacular to share.” I did in fact have something to share, but a big part of preparing my testimony was convincing myself I had something worth hearing.
I think a misconception some of us have about testimonies is that a testimony is about how you came to know the Lord. The definition is not incorrect, but it’s not always the case. Testimony comes from the Latin word testis, meaning witness. Therefore, a testimony can be anything we have seen God do in our lives. It includes how you came to know the Lord, but it can be anything.
In John 9, for example, the formerly blind man testified twice that Jesus opened his eyes. More recently at LifeSpring, people have shared how they experienced God’s goodness in job searches, mission trips, sharing the gospel, and car accidents. Sharing a testimony can be as simple as sharing what you’ve seen God doing in your life this week.
Another misconception was, as I mentioned earlier, that the testimony has to be painful or dramatic.
The Bible says
And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
Revelations 12:11
It does not say “They overcame him by their 5 act dramatization of their life.”
Testimonies are powerful. You don’t need Gabe, Andrew, or my dad’s testimony to make an impact. Sharing your testimony shows that your faith is not just some archaic belief system you follow, but a relationship with a God that you experience on a daily basis. Even this skeptic/atheist thinks that the best argument for the existance of God is personal encounter stories.
There’s a lot of opportunies during Christmas to share the true reason for the season. What better way to do that than also sharing what you’ve seen God do in your life?