Testimony Time

Back in the days of growing up, it was common to have testimonies given during Sunday night worship.  At times the sermon time might be given to such moments, or as was more commonly the case, a few people would voluntarily stand and share about the beginning of their walk with Jesus.  Some might have some dramatic story to tell while others would speak of a moment of quietly turning away from one way of life to the life now embraced with Christ.  There is not so much of this kind of sharing taking place in our churches today and it is unfortunate because there is power in the story that each one of us has with Christ.  

There is something about a story that grabs our attention in a way that is different from a sermon or a Biblical teaching.  No matter the language we might use, our story is our story.  It is the one given to us by the Christ and it needs no defending or explaining.  It is ours and ours alone.  I remember a time when a college witness team took a small group of us into a seminary classroom.  We were somewhat intimidated by being in a place of theological studies.  The professor who invited us said, "Just tell your story.  No one can question it.  It is the story of you and your encounter with Christ.  It is not something up for debate."  

It is that way for us.  We are often shy about sharing something as personal as our beginning moments with Christ, or even the moments which have become a part of our present, but there is really nothing to fear.  Whatever we offer in His name, He blesses.  What we must not fear to do is to speak of Him, about Him, and for Him as the occasion for such comes to us.  As we stand before an opportunity to share something of our testimony about our life with Jesus, we may sense some inner anxiety and fear, but let us also remember a word of Jesus from Luke's gospel.  "...the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say."  (Luke 12:12)