Your Testimony

You should have:

A God-pleasing testimony – Heb 11:5.  Enoch’s testimony before his translation was “that he pleased God”.  Enoch is our type in the Old Testament if we are raptured before our death.  He never died, and neither will we if we are alive when Jesus returns for us.  As he had a testimony that he pleased God, so we should also have a testimony that we please God.

We should be constantly aware that the Lord sees us and knows all that we do or think.  He can’t be fooled by us pretending to be something that we aren’t.  Our principle concern should be that who we are and what we are doing is pleasing to God.

A true testimony – Jn 21:24.  John’s testimony of Jesus Christ is absolutely true.  Likewise, our testimony of Jesus Christ must also be true.  The testimony of our words should match the testimony of our actions.  And we should preach Jesus more today than in the past.

People who know us should know that we live the life we profess to believe.  Our walk must match our talk.  People in the world are looking for the genuine article when it comes to Christians.  They’ve seen enough hypocrites.

A bold testimony – Acts 14:3.  In Iconium Paul and Barnabas spoke “boldly in the Lord” and “gave testimony to the word of his grace”.  We should speak boldly of the Lord’s grace in our lives.  He has done so much for us, he deserves the credit and the glory for what he was done.

People who see you and hear you “preach” the gospel are more likely to pay attention to you when you are bold in your testimony.  You are more likely to convince them that what you have is worth having.

An unashamed testimony – 2 Tim 1:8.  Paul told Timothy, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God”.  If you take a stand for God, you can be sure that there is someone who is going to take a stand against you.  Look at the paradox in Prov 19:6, “Every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts”.  This verse is true unless the gift giver is God.  He gave the world eternal life in his Son Jesus Christ, Jn 3:16, and the world hates him for it, Jn 15:18.  We should not be ashamed to stand with the Lord against this wicked world.

Conclusion: When I was a teenager and prayed to receive Jesus Christ as my Savior, my testimony in boarding school was not the same as my testimony when I returned home for the summers.  I didn’t have any Christian friends, at all, in my hometown.  Yet, I wanted to have friends when I was at home.  Sadly, I was ashamed to stand for Jesus when I was with the friends at home, because they didn’t stand for Jesus.  Don’t ever let this happen to you.  Stand for Jesus and stand with friends who stand for him.  Let your testimony be God-pleasing, true, bold, and unashamed.