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A recent Barna study
observed that trust in many institutions—including Christian
ones—continues to decline. Yet it also found something hopeful:
people still trust those who know them personally. Influence today flows
less through titles and reputation and more through relationships
marked by consistency, humility, and authenticity.
That should not
surprise Christians.
From the beginning,
God has chosen to spread the good news through ordinary people
telling the extraordinary things He has done.
Psalm 71 paints a
beautiful picture of a lifetime of testimony. From youth until old
age, the psalmist’s desire is the same: “I will declare your marvelous deeds… until I
declare your power to the next generation.” God’s
faithfulness is never meant to end with us. Every act of His grace
becomes another story worth telling.
When Jesus healed the
man possessed by demons in Luke 8, He did not send him to seminary or
ask him to prepare a sermon. He simply said, “Return home and tell how
much God has done for you.” That man became the first
missionary to his own community, and his message was simply his story.
The same pattern
appears throughout the New Testament. Jesus sent His disciples into
the world not because they had every answer, but because they had
walked with Him. They had seen His compassion, experienced His
forgiveness, and witnessed His power. Their testimony became one of
the primary ways the gospel spread throughout the ancient world.
Even Revelation reminds
us that God’s people “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by
the word of their testimony.” Our victory is Christ’s alone, but God
uses the stories of transformed lives as a witness to His saving work.
So consider these
questions this week:
What has Jesus done
for you?
Who in your life
needs to hear that story?
You do not need to
have every answer. You do not need a dramatic testimony. You simply
need to tell the truth about what Jesus has done—and continues to
do—in your life.
Your story may be
exactly what God uses to help someone else believe that He can do the
same for them.
//
As I reflected on
these passages this week, I found myself returning to a song that was
in regular rotation at the church I attended during college. Jeremy
Camp’s “Overcome”
forever linked Revelation 12:11 in my mind, reminding me that God
graciously chooses to use the testimony of His people as part of His
work in the world. I hope it encourages you as it has encouraged me.
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