A Good Show

It is really easy to think that it’s a bad thing to talk about our testimony. For a Born Again Christian, our testimony is the very power of God made manifest in our own lives. It is God stepping into our lives that were lost and deep in sin, while we were still deep in sin, not while we were trying to get out of it or when we had thought it was something we wanted to turn away from, but while we were still in it, God stepping in to reach out a hand of love and bring us up and out of the mire we were in and back to our senses again. It is restoration of life from death, a resurrection and restoration of everything that was lost because of mistakes we had made. And our lives were resurrected and everything was restored not because what we did or because we deserved grace, but because God gave us grace because He chose to. Our testimony is something that we can look at over and over again and see the glory and love and mercy of God, and that we can hold out and share with someone else as life giving bread and water. Our testimony is the glory of the Lord.

And yet, it’s a scary thing to share our testimony. People like to be liked. We like to have people think the best of us. We like to put on a good show for the world no matter what is really going on in our lives. We think it makes us look bad or weak or undesirable if we share the truth of ourselves, the whole truth with nothing held back. But God doesn’t work the way the world works. If we share our testimony when He has told us that someone needs to hear it, in some inexplicable and supernatural way all the natural laws change their course of action. Something that caused us shame in our past becomes the glory of God and light and life to a listener who needs to hear our story so they can know the love of God in their own.

In Revelation 12:10-12 we read, “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of the brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

That is an amazing passage when you take it apart and think about what it is telling us. The salvation and power and the kingdom of God, and the authority of His Christ have come – why? Because of the blood of the Lamb and word of the testimony of the brethren, or born again believers in Christ. The accuser of the brethren, satan, has been thrown down – why? Because of the blood of the lamb and the word of the testimony of the brethren. The next line, “and they did not love their life even when faced with death” – that speaks to not only our physical life and death, but also of those things that we love in life, wanting approval, wanting to be liked, wanting to be desired and wanted and chosen and accepted by other people. Even when faced with the death of those human desires, they “did not love” them “even when faced with (their) death” - they did not cling to them, but let them go because their testimony before God meant so much more. And then verse 12 comes, “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them” – why? Because the believers did not love their life even when faced with death. Because they glorified God rather than themselves. And finally we read, "the devil has come down to the earth and the sea having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time" – why does he know that he has only a short time and why is he so full of wrath? Because of those same believers who overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. Those same believers who insisted in glorifying God.

That’s powerful stuff. We can throw down satan from his strongholds simply by giving our testimony. Simply by telling the truth of what God has done in our lives all of those miraculous events begin to unfold. Great rejoicing and power and salvation and the authority of Christ come into the world when we speak the truth and tell someone what God has done in our lives. So of course the enemy will come and say, “Shhhh. You don’t want anyone to know about that. You’re different now, so why should you ruin your chances and tell people about that?” It’s so easy to think we need to hide our testimony. After all, God forgave us of all of our sins and washed them all away in the River of Forgetfulness, so why should I drag them up to tell someone about them now?

But it is the very fact that God forgave them that makes our testimony so powerful and such a life giving serum to someone who does not understand that there is nothing that God cannot forgive and no one that God does not love. When we tell someone our testimony and they look at our changed lives – our faces without lines and our eyes clear of pain – when we let someone know that we were just like them once and now we are changed, not because of what we have done but because of what God has done, when we are honest about our own weaknesses and mistakes and issues, we show how good God is and how He can transform a life and make all things new. Our testimony makes us a walking testament to the glory of God, a testament to His love, His mercy, His grace and His miracles.

Speaking the truth about our testimony also relieves us of the shame attached. When we hide something in darkness it can get worse and worse. When you think about a wound that is allowed to fester under a bandage without being allowed to be cleansed and given light and air, that is the image we can think of with the wounds caused by our transgressions and sins. But when we bring them out into the light of Christ, when we offer them up to Him and give Him the truth of who we are, He takes our sacrifice and makes it holy. This is one of the mysteries of God. The blood of the Lamb washes over the word of our testimony and we are made clean and whole while those who hear our words are cleansed and made whole also.

Romans 8:1 tells us, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” When we have walked after the flesh and have come to know Him who is Spirit, when we have that testimony to share, we have truly overcome when we are able to share it. When instead of wanting to put on a good show we let the truth be known, we can help someone else to overcome as well. And isn't that really the best show of all? Rejoicing in heaven, the salvation and power and glory of the kingdom of heaven and the authority of Christ sounds like a winner to me.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan