What is your testimony?

Our personal testimony – personal accounts of deliverance, healing, and forgiveness – are valuable. Others who have faced similar challenges or life experiences can relate and be encouraged. But this is always a secondary testimony. The testimony that must always take the lead is this: “The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him… This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is found in his Son.” – 1 John 5: 10-11

We may have been delivered from addictions, unholy habits, unforgiveness, pride, etc. But the foundational and powerful truth is that we who are born again have been delivered from sin and the penalty thereof. We have received the gift of eternal life that is found only in Jesus Christ. He said "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." - John 14:6 Our testimony is not of our righteousness, but of the righteousness of God… “My tongue will declare your righteousness and praise you all day long.” - Psalm 35:28

There are a plethora of motivational speakers, therapists, and self-help blowhards who can tell you how they overcame this or that habit. They can give you ten steps to being a "better person." They can show you the before and after photos of all of their accomplishments. But this is not the testimony of the child of God. This is not the message of the disciple of Christ. Our testimony is of Him. Our testimony is to point to the righteousness of Christ, which reveals the unrighteousness of our own condition apart from him. Our testimony is not that we were bad and now we are good. It is not that we were struggling and now we are victorious. Our testimony is that we were DEAD and now we are ALIVE. Our testimony - is His testimony. It is HIS redemption. It is HIS righteousness. Jesus is victorious! He has concurred death and the grave. He has won the victory over sin and death and sorrow and shame and despair… He took the brunt of all of it… crying out on the cross “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?!” And as he took that final breath, after praying for us “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” then he cried out “IT IS FINISHED!” Oh, what a blessed Savior! What a redeemer! What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. Our testimony is Jesus. He said “if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto me.” And he was lifted up… on the cross to bear our sin. He was lifted up… from the grave! He was lifted up... into heaven, where he is seated at the right-hand of the Father. And we are to lift him up – to proclaim his goodness, his righteousness, his love, his grace and mercy… flowing freely from the cross. Let this be your testimony today. Let his life, his love, his mercy, his goodness and kindness and righteousness be manifested in and through you today.

​May it be so in Jesus’ name.