Post by Eli Brayley on Aug 2, 2008 5:58:31 GMT -7
I Wish I Had a Better Story
by Jimmy Humphrey
Last week I broke my elbow and sprained my ankle. Naturally, people all week have been asking me, "What happened to you?" To such, I have given the same story time and time again: I jumped with a baby from the third floor of a burning building and used my body to shield the baby from the impact of the ground below. Of course, such was the super-hero version I jokingly told. What really happened, the klutz that I am, was that I was walking through a parking lot on the way to my car, tripped, and simply had a nasty fall. Such isn't nearly as interesting, and all I get is an, "Oh," in response to my story. "I wish I had a better story," I'd sometimes say to the person who asked about my injuries.
So I have found over the years, there is always the temptation when sharing one's personal testimony, to jazz it up a bit. Sometimes we act ashamed over our conversion experience, and wish it were a little more exciting. A little more raz-ma-taz... a little more of a Damascus Road type of encounter with Christ... a little more deep dark sin... a little more of something. And that temptation is real, because we know the person we are sharing our story with wants to hear something a bit over the top. That temptation is real because, naturally speaking, we are all man-pleasers by birth. We want to impress somebody with what we say.
Let me exhort you, simply be real about your testimony. Don't jazz it up. Don't make yourself out to have been the chief of all sinners if in fact you weren't. If, like me, you weren't much more than a sheltered middle-class white boy who never got caught up in gross immorality, then don't make it sound as if you were some thug standing on a street corner selling drugs. If no grand firework show went off when you gave your heart to the Lord, then simply say so. For to do such is to be ashamed of what the Lord actually has done in your life, and to cheapen the precious blood that He spilled for you. The Lord is not at all ashamed of what He has done for you, nor does He certainly wish you were a greater sinner who indulged in more of what the world had to offer you. He is quite pleased with the work He has done in you, so, will you simply not rejoice and be glad in it?
by Jimmy Humphrey
Last week I broke my elbow and sprained my ankle. Naturally, people all week have been asking me, "What happened to you?" To such, I have given the same story time and time again: I jumped with a baby from the third floor of a burning building and used my body to shield the baby from the impact of the ground below. Of course, such was the super-hero version I jokingly told. What really happened, the klutz that I am, was that I was walking through a parking lot on the way to my car, tripped, and simply had a nasty fall. Such isn't nearly as interesting, and all I get is an, "Oh," in response to my story. "I wish I had a better story," I'd sometimes say to the person who asked about my injuries.
So I have found over the years, there is always the temptation when sharing one's personal testimony, to jazz it up a bit. Sometimes we act ashamed over our conversion experience, and wish it were a little more exciting. A little more raz-ma-taz... a little more of a Damascus Road type of encounter with Christ... a little more deep dark sin... a little more of something. And that temptation is real, because we know the person we are sharing our story with wants to hear something a bit over the top. That temptation is real because, naturally speaking, we are all man-pleasers by birth. We want to impress somebody with what we say.
Let me exhort you, simply be real about your testimony. Don't jazz it up. Don't make yourself out to have been the chief of all sinners if in fact you weren't. If, like me, you weren't much more than a sheltered middle-class white boy who never got caught up in gross immorality, then don't make it sound as if you were some thug standing on a street corner selling drugs. If no grand firework show went off when you gave your heart to the Lord, then simply say so. For to do such is to be ashamed of what the Lord actually has done in your life, and to cheapen the precious blood that He spilled for you. The Lord is not at all ashamed of what He has done for you, nor does He certainly wish you were a greater sinner who indulged in more of what the world had to offer you. He is quite pleased with the work He has done in you, so, will you simply not rejoice and be glad in it?