In the middle of last week, the ABC aired an interview that I did for the Hungry Beast programme where I shared my testimony. By simply sharing my story with a couple of cameras in my living room, accompanied with a journalist and director, I was able (hopefully) to demonstrate God’s power in my life. For many viewers it was a very unusual story and one that very few people woud get to hear on the national broadcaster, but it nonetheless attracted a very strong audience. According to one of Hungry Beast’s producers, the show has never had so many comments on its forum for any of its segments to date.
I don’t mention all of this to brag, but rather to show that the power of testimony is awesome, assuming that it’s used properly. When I did my interview with Hungry Beast I had a few simple aims: 1) to show the audience that this was God’s story of His work in my life; 2) that Jesus is the one doing the healing, not I. (I would never, in my sinful nature, attempt to resist my desires); 3) that God works in peope’s lives because He made them for relationship with Him and wants to know them; and 4) God is powerful and loving.
I pray that I was successful in my attempt. But it has demonstrated to me that indeed God does work through the power of story, as long as it’s centred on Jesus. Even if Bible verses are never mentioned, it can cut people to the heart and make them pause to think about the need for them to know Jesus. It’s a case of showing rather than telling, a mode of sharing perspectives that creative writers use all the time when writing stories. We don’t need to bombard people with Powerpoint presentations of ‘I have the truth and will prove to you that you’re wrong and need Jesus’ because that frankly turns people off. Truth, to postmodern listeners, is all well and true for anyone to believe, but the question is ‘Who Cares?’ If it’s true that Jesus is God how does it impact me and my life? It sounds self-centred, but that’s what the contemporary mind wants to know. It’s the big ‘So what?’ To me, it’s a fair question and God has an answer for anyone who asks it.
The New Testament tells of a story about a man who was possessed by a legion of demons, with a condition so bad that he lived in a remote cave and coudn’t be restrained. He was like a raving lunatic. Jesus healed him and commanded the man to go and share his story with others. That’s all he was asked to do.
Last week I was following that call too. If anything, my prayer is that the sharing of my testimony will encourage other Christians to share their stories and not be afraid. Even if it’s not as ‘shocking’ or as dramatic as mine, it’s still worthwhile.
Testimonies needn’t include controversy to be powerful, they only need to be Christ-centred because it’s the Holy Spirit who will convict and change, not the details of the story of themselves.
You needn’t be afraid of the media or how it may twist your words but love the world you’re in enough to tell of God’s work, even if it means fronting a cynical media that may not be as objective as it seems. Truth can be very two-dimensional when it doesn’t apply to flesh and blood but a testimony can bear that out and answer the ‘So what?’
It’s hard for people to argue against a testimony and can cut through the hearts of the most stubborn person.
So go forth, share your testimony, and leave it to God to do His work.
