It seems like lately I have been in a number of conversations about the importance of knowing and sharing your story of God’s redeeming work in your life. As believers, it is essential that we each know our own story and that we be able to share it with others when the opportunity presents itself. Peter challenges the church to always be prepared to give a defense of the hope that is in us. In order for this to happen, though, there are two things that have to take place. First, you have to have the hope of Christ in you. You cannot share that hope unless you have first received it, and the only way to receive it is to surrender your heart and life to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Second, you must have enough of a grasp on what God is doing in your life that you can share that story with others. Your testimony doesn’t just have to be about the time that you surrendered your life to Christ. You can also give testimony to what God is doing in you right now because the gospel is always shaping us to be more like Jesus.

I am convinced that too many Christians are not prepared to share their testimony with others. Too many times when I hear someone share their faith, it goes something like this: I used to do all this bad stuff. Then I gave my life to Jesus. Now I don’t do bad stuff any more…Please don’t misunderstand the point that I am trying to make. There is great power in the freedom that is ours in Christ. But Jesus didn’t die on the cross to make you a better person. He didn’t surrender his life so that you would do stop doing bad stuff. Jesus suffered and died on the cross because there was no possible way that you or I could ever hope to save ourselves from our sin! Does God want to give you freedom from the bad stuff of your past? Absolutely he does. But there is so much more to understanding the power of the gospel over your life than just knowing that you prayed a prayer and now are trying to avoid all the bad things that you used to do. In the end, that’s just moralism – a plan for fixing up your life or making you better. But Jesus didn’t die because you needed to be better. He died to pay for the sin that had driven a wedge between you and God. Understanding the true power of the gospel means that you recognize that God saved you so that his glory might be on display in your life through redeeming a sinner who was hopelessly lost in sin. And when we share that story with others, we have the opportunity to give witness to the hope that is ours in Christ because God gives us forgiveness and freedom that we could never earn or deserve.

How powerful would it be if every member of our church understood the power of their testimony, and we each were looking for opportunities to share that story with our lost friends? Every believer has been given the task of sharing the hope that is ours with those around us. There is power in our story of God redeeming us for his glory, and when we share that story, God uses it to draw the hearts of men to salvation in Jesus. May we understand and share our story of God’s great redeeming love on display in us!