“As I’ve told you before,” Stan began, “the people who lived down the block from where we lived were instrumental in opening me to become a Christian.”
“I do remember that,” I responded. “Must have been nice people.”
“Wonderful neighbors and friends!” Stan replied.
Continuing, he added, “How they went about introducing me to Christianity was, as I look back on it, about as perfect as possible.”
“How was that?” I asked.
“Personal testimony,” Stan replied. “They presented themselves as people who had been changed. I obviously didn’t know them before so I didn’t know what they had changed from, but what they presented was very attractive.”
“So it made you curious as to why they were different?” I asked.
“It certainly did,” Stan said. “They were so different from the people I normally associated with that I wanted to know why they were different.”
“So,” I replied, “did you ask them?”
“I did,” Stan said. “And by my asking, they opened up and told me the whole story of how they became Christians. They told me of their conversion and the process of their transformation.”
Continuing, he added, “The way they told me, just presenting their personal testimony, rather than, in effect, hitting me over the head with the Bible, was powerfully attractive.”
“Did you become a Christian immediately after they told you all of that?” I asked.
“No,” Stan replied. “It was some time later, but their personal testimony created a desire in me to know more about their Christian faith.”
“And you pursued that?” I asked.
“Certainly did,” Stan replied. “And I eventually came to the point of accepting the truth of God’s free and gracious gift of eternal salvation through Jesus and His finished work on the cross. And that began for me my own personal testimony.”
“To be shared with others?” I responded.
“Yes,” Stan replied, “and for the same purpose, that others may want to know the truth of what God has for them.”
“Do you think each Christian is to have a personal testimony to be shared?” I asked.
“Absolutely!” Stan replied.
“And if they don’t?” I responded.
“I think,” Stan concluded, “they may need to talk with God about that.”
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Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will tell of what He has done for my soul. Psalm 66:16.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your gracious and free provision of eternal salvation through the finished work of Christ’s atonement on the cross. Thank you for the people you have brought into my life who have been willing to share the truth through what you have done in them for their eternal destination and for the time they have remaining on this side of eternity. I ask for all of the help you can provide so I am willing to openly share what you have done in and through me so that others may also know the truth of your provision for them. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Do you agree that a person’s personal testimony can have a powerful impact on others? Why or why not? Have you been impacted by the personal testimony of another person? If so, what was that like? Do you have your own personal testimony? If you do, are you willing or reluctant to share it with others? Do you realize that the more a personal testimony is shared the easier it gets?
Waiting for the Train 