My testimony is not all that particularly exciting. My childhood was great. Both my parents stayed together. They provided for our needs and encouraged my sister and I in our pursuits. I didn't get involved with the wrong crowd, abuse drugs/alcohol, skip out on school, etc.. I had a very nice childhood for which I was blessed with. My mom took us to church when we were little, I grew up in the church and in college, gave my life to Christ. End of story.
Now that I have put you to sleep. We know of other testimonies where people went through trials and misery, some self inflicted. They reached rock bottom and God rescued them from that existence. Powerful stuff and speaks to how great our God is. That we can become so far lost in the eyes of the world and be a hopeless cause and yet God can lift us from that.
Both paths to God are valid. Neither is better than the other. God works differently in different people's lives with the same goal. To bring us in reconciliation to Him.
However, I have noticed when lots of people (myself included) that they end at the moment we come to believe in God. That nothing seems to happen after that moment. We live happy ever after. That all the "exciting" stuff ended at that point. Sometimes, we make the unintentional error of painting ourselves as having been more fun and exciting in the past. Now, the assumption is that we have become boring people who spend our lives quietly reading our bibles, going to church, and "pooh-poohing" any kind of fun. Now, the first two are important, but we can sometimes convey that the Christian life can be a boring existence.
This doesn't mean to make Christianity an exciting show to get others to join us. That should not be our intent, and I think some religious leaders fall into that trap to make things interested to keep people coming to church. Once it becomes uninteresting they will fall away. We cant dilute God's message just to keep the people coming. Not the point I am trying to make.
My point is that we sometimes don't delve into the Christian life in our testimonies. We reference our past lives (although sometimes entertaining were destructive) or refrain from sharing them for fear they are boring. Our walk of faith is still a work in progress. No matter when we give our lives, we are still learning. It did not end on the day we gave our lives to Christ and we live happily ever after. In fact, we still dream, we fail, we struggle, we get disappointed still after the fact.
Our testimonies are still work in progress as well. They are our life stories. Our past, our present, and our future. Granted, we don't give our entire biographies - we touch on different aspects that are relevant to the situation at the time. But, God does not stop working in our lives once we come to know Him. The rest of our lives is spent learning, praying, healing, and being shaped.
This is good news as this means that we don't need to be perfect. It also means we are still going to face hardships just like all the disciples. The question is where we decide to place our hope in. We are all works in progress regardless of where we are in our walks of faith. This is helpful to know that as Christians it will be OK if we don't have all the answers. No need for perfection, when all God requires is that we be present.
Hopefully, this doesn't come across as badmouthing people with powerful testimonies. Not my intent. All testimonies are good as long as the focus is on what God has done and is still doing. People learn from where we have been and we develop empathy for those going through stuff that we have experienced. I am just remarking that sometimes we end our stories at the moment of meeting God. When, in actuality, our adventures are still going on.
Now that I have put you to sleep. We know of other testimonies where people went through trials and misery, some self inflicted. They reached rock bottom and God rescued them from that existence. Powerful stuff and speaks to how great our God is. That we can become so far lost in the eyes of the world and be a hopeless cause and yet God can lift us from that.
Both paths to God are valid. Neither is better than the other. God works differently in different people's lives with the same goal. To bring us in reconciliation to Him.
However, I have noticed when lots of people (myself included) that they end at the moment we come to believe in God. That nothing seems to happen after that moment. We live happy ever after. That all the "exciting" stuff ended at that point. Sometimes, we make the unintentional error of painting ourselves as having been more fun and exciting in the past. Now, the assumption is that we have become boring people who spend our lives quietly reading our bibles, going to church, and "pooh-poohing" any kind of fun. Now, the first two are important, but we can sometimes convey that the Christian life can be a boring existence.
This doesn't mean to make Christianity an exciting show to get others to join us. That should not be our intent, and I think some religious leaders fall into that trap to make things interested to keep people coming to church. Once it becomes uninteresting they will fall away. We cant dilute God's message just to keep the people coming. Not the point I am trying to make.
My point is that we sometimes don't delve into the Christian life in our testimonies. We reference our past lives (although sometimes entertaining were destructive) or refrain from sharing them for fear they are boring. Our walk of faith is still a work in progress. No matter when we give our lives, we are still learning. It did not end on the day we gave our lives to Christ and we live happily ever after. In fact, we still dream, we fail, we struggle, we get disappointed still after the fact.
Our testimonies are still work in progress as well. They are our life stories. Our past, our present, and our future. Granted, we don't give our entire biographies - we touch on different aspects that are relevant to the situation at the time. But, God does not stop working in our lives once we come to know Him. The rest of our lives is spent learning, praying, healing, and being shaped.
This is good news as this means that we don't need to be perfect. It also means we are still going to face hardships just like all the disciples. The question is where we decide to place our hope in. We are all works in progress regardless of where we are in our walks of faith. This is helpful to know that as Christians it will be OK if we don't have all the answers. No need for perfection, when all God requires is that we be present.
Hopefully, this doesn't come across as badmouthing people with powerful testimonies. Not my intent. All testimonies are good as long as the focus is on what God has done and is still doing. People learn from where we have been and we develop empathy for those going through stuff that we have experienced. I am just remarking that sometimes we end our stories at the moment of meeting God. When, in actuality, our adventures are still going on.
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