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If someone were to ask us, prior to our following Christ, what Jesus means to us and what impact he has on our life, our answer would reveal that we do not know Jesus and that neither his teachings nor his life have any impact on us. How else could we be since we know nothing of Christ Jesus. Perhaps we have heard of his name. Maybe we have heard a story or two about him. But the truth is, we know nothing about him. What's more, we could care less about him. Jesus means nothing to us. We see no value in seeking him our or learning from him. Thus we have nothing to say about him. We claim that we are happy just the way we are. We say this because we know nothing of the abundant life that he came to give to those who believe him. It is impossible to talk about Jesus because he has done nothing in us or for us. We have no personal encounter with the living God in Christ, so we have nothing to say about him. If we were asked what we talk about, it would be our interests and our life. We may speak of our hopes and dreams, or we may speak of our hurts and disappointments. What we cannot speak of is how Jesus addresses and even transforms our hopes, dreams, hurts, and disappointments.
Somewhere along the way we begin to encounter Jesus. We start hearing about him, his life and the things he said and did. Maybe we hear it because we are taken to church by our family as we are growing up. Maybe we are talking to a friend over coffee. Perhaps something we read gets us thinking about Jesus. Maybe we keep encountering references to Jesus that are catching our attention. Whatever the means through which the Holy Spirit is using to get our attention, we are finding ourselves being drawn to Christ. We hear about him and from him through the Gospel accounts and notice that he is unlike anyone we know or have even heard of. The more we learn about Jesus, the more intrigued we become about him. There is something about this man Jesus that fascinates us and we want to know more about who he is and what he has said and done. We are drawing nearer to Jesus, though we probably don't even recognize it. As much as we are open to discovering more about Jesus we begin seeking to learn more. We spend time with others who talk about Jesus. We hear stories from people about what Jesus has done in their lives and what he means to them. To learn even more about Jesus, we are encouraged to spend time getting to know him through prayer and reading of the Bible. We are encouraged to attend church and to plug into a small group where people are talking about Jesus, learning from him, and taking steps to do what he says. The more intentional we are in seeking Jesus, the closer we are drawn to him. We see and hear things that make us wonder who this man people call Jesus Christ really is.
n wondering who is this man is, we become open to truly discover who he himself claims to be. We hear that he is the Christ, the one whom through the prophets; God promised He would send to save us. He is the Son of the living God, the Lord of all, the Word of God that took on flesh and dwelt among us. He is appointed to judge the heart of every human being at the end of the age. He is the one who came to give life and life abundantly. If we have seen him, then Jesus says that we have seen the Father. So there we are hearing about Christ. Eventually we come to a point where we find that we are being asked who we say Jesus is, and we find ourselves challenged by the question of who he is.
We have come to the conclusion that Jesus really is the Christ. He is the Lord. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Our affirming that Jesus is the Christ is the major transition point of our life. We don't fully understand what we are doing, but we become his disciple. Sure, we have been learning from him, but our relationship has changed. In confessing that Jesus is the Christ, that he is Lord, we have believed God and it is credited to us as righteousness. We are now in Christ and Christ is in us, which is a great mystery of the Christian faith. But we know we are different.
Our coming to faith in Christ is not the end of our journey, but only the beginning. We are to grow in our faith and knowledge of Christ. We are to grow in our love of God. As we grow, we find a growing desire to talk to our friends and family about what Jesus is doing in us. We see Jesus in a whole new light. We had been blind to him for so long and we want to help others who we know to be blind to him. At this point some of us may begin to share our testimony, but not all of us will for various reasons. Some us, perhaps those of us who are more naturally outgoing, we begin talking boldly about Jesus right from the start. We want to tell others about this guy Jesus and what he has done in our life. Others among us may not be so comfortable talking about Jesus. Maybe we are still trying to figure out what is happening to us. Maybe we recognize that those around us are not very receptive. Perhaps we are in an environment where speaking of Jesus could be dangerous and we choose to be cautious. Wherever we fall in the spectrum regarding our talking about Jesus, we do have some growing to do. Nevertheless, we have a testimony to share. The way in which we share our testimony is likely to change over time. Elements of our testimony will also change as we mature in Christ. But the ultimate object of our testimony, the Lord Jesus Christ, will remain at the center of our testimony. Our life really has been changed and as we walk with Christ it will continue to change. Thus, we have something to say about.
Early on it is likely that our testimony about Jesus focuses more on ourselves than on Jesus. This is because we see the changes that have and are taking place in us and we see them as significant. We know that it is God at work in us, but still our focus is more self-centered than Christ-centered. So, we go around declaring to others the impact Jesus is having on us. We are so excited about the impact on our life, that we may be relentless in talking about Christ with others. The challenging thing for us is that our knowledge of him is limited. Nevertheless, we are finding opportunities to talk about him with friends and family and perhaps anyone else who may be willing to listen. Our opportunities my initially seem small. But with time, growth, and faithfulness in sharing, we encounter more and more chances to talk about Jesus. As we grow and share, our testimony gradually shifts the focus from ourselves to Jesus. He has changed us and talking about the changes he has brought about are exciting to us and can be eye opening to others. But we are beginning to recognize that the focus of our testimony needs to be more about Jesus and less about us. He must increase and we must decrease.
With an expanding understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to die to ourselves and to live for him, we become intentional in our choice of words for our testimony. We want to speak more about Jesus and less about ourselves. We may write out our testimony in order to be as clear as possible and to work at getting straight to the point. And what is the point we are trying to make? We want to point to Jesus. Our story is simply the means by which to introduce people to Jesus. Gradually we learn to have more interest in listening to others with the hope of introducing them to Jesus. At first we wanted to talk about what Jesus had done for us. Now we bring it us in order to connect with people and get them thinking about Jesus. We have grown in our maturity as his disciple that we are much more able and confident to talk about him. We don't need the personal affirmation and validation that we were unconsciously looking for at first. We are interested in people knowing Christ. We want them to see Jesus and to hear what he has to say. Our testimony is about Jesus. It comes through our words, actions, and priorities.
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