Tell Your Testimony to Share Christ
Let’s consider using our testimony to share our faith in Christ with others. Here is a challenging Scripture from The Message:
“But you are the ones chosen by God…God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted” (1 Peter 2: 9-10 The MESSAGE).
When my friend asked God what her new role was after she had an empty nest, she felt He gave her a question back: “What can you do for Me that no one else can do?” After contemplating that she had an answer. “Tell my story.”
A testimony is “to tell something you know firsthand, or to authenticate a fact.” When we share our testimony we can testify to what Jesus has done for us and thus influence others.
You will find more than 500 references in the Bible where people are instructed to tell. For instance: tell the people, tell your son, tell your brother, tell the good news, and a lot of names of individuals who are instructed “to tell” also.
One year our pastor Peter Lord challenged us to practice telling our story. The idea was to zero in on how we had changed after we made Jesus the Lord of our life. He suggested we practice telling it in a reasonable time frame: ten minutes, five minutes and just one minute.
Standing before a mirror and imagining we were speaking to just one person about our transformation, we could practice by talking about the most important change we’d undergone. He cautioned us not to tell our whole life’s story in one short speech. Instead, we should try to stick to one theme whether it was freedom from an obvious sin or a hidden one such as unforgiveness, or judging others, or occult involvement, or pride, or lying or any number of issues that were displeasing to God.
“Just tell your story,” he would say. “Tell what Christ did for you, and the freedom you now enjoy. Make it so interesting others will want to know more about how Jesus can impact them too. If they are interested in what you shared, you can tell them more of your story. Be ready to tell them how they too can know the Savior.”
When we allow the Lord to deal with personal issues hindering us, we indeed become overcomers. Paul wrote “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37 NKJV). The phrase “more than conquerors” means “over and above.” It describes one who wins more than the ordinary victory.
Isn’t that the story we want to impart to others? Right now maybe you want to pause. Ask yourself what is my story to tell? How can I speak it with such clarity that I can help others know the Lord?
Our life’s story can be the legacy we leave in others. John Maxwell says it well: “Live the legacy you want to leave… Legacy lives on in people and people live on after you are gone.” (1)
“An inheritance is what you leave to someone while a legacy is what you leave in someone.” This profound statement has made the rounds on the Internet with several authors credited with coining it. Its truth challenges us to think deeper.
Jamie Buckingham, in writing to Christians, said: “Most of us don’t realize it, but our influence is much larger than we can imagine—and will continue for generations to come, be it good or evil. It’s a wonderful responsibility. Always remember though, Jesus is ever with you and His Spirit will whisper just the things you need to say and do.” (2)
Prayer: Father, help me to use opportunities to share how Christ Jesus has impacted my life. Give me the right words to say. May I be an instrument to bring others to Him. Amen.
Footnotes:
1.John C. Maxwell, Developing the Leader Within You, (Nashville, TN., Thomas Nelson ,1995) p.2.
2. Jamie Buckingham, The Nazarene, (Ann Arbor, Michigan, Servant Publication, 1991), p. 89.
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