On Evangelism part 2: Writing Testimony

When you reach out to people, it's good to be sure of your own salvation. Thus I write my own testimony to show the 180-degree turn around from sin to following God. I couldn't pinpoint which day or event that made the change in me, but I believe it was a process over the ten long years I interacted with God and believers. Rmbr, the testimony is a truthful account of how you witnessed/saw/felt Jesus Christ in your life that made you make the decision to believe and follow Him.

To note:

1) Keep the story to be about yourself and not others.

2) Include how you were like/felt like most prominently before receiving Jesus Christ, and then how that changed after you accepted Jesus. Your transformation is the essential part.

3) Include the gospel/Jesus or a verse to reinforce your change.

3) Stick to one point only, like your sch compositions. Eg if it's about pressure, identify what kind and only talk about it--peer pressure, mental strain, physical stress...

4) Use simple terms a non-believer can understand and identify with. No "fellowship", "prayer", "tithes"; if need be, say gathering, talking to God or donating.

4) Draft and draft and TELL it to a believing friend (ask him to roleplay a nonbeliever) and ask if he understands from tt POV.

5) It took me a month to get it right, 'cos I had to reminisce a lot and see how God worked in the different scenarios, but let's hope you make better time =P

So this is roughly my testimony to share to people. I use it if they don't want to hear the gospel or have already heard the gospel before...

Being in my teens with my ups and downs and emotions running wild, I was in a very rebellious stage, getting fed up over everything and being full of myself without sparing a thought for my parents. I was alone a lot with my studies and CCAs. I attended church and a few times I heard about Jesus dying for me and things like that, taking my sins from me because He was God’s Son who is the only one who could come to take my wrong doings; He was the fall guy for our sins. 

Being the silly person I was, I told him, “No, I’m not going to confess my sins to you.” The reasons were, one, I just wanted to rebel against God because I could, and two, I thought if I confessed all my sins, he would have to bear more of my sins and I didn’t want to burden him down with my problems and misdeeds. So obviously I said no. Who would want to torture a nice guy?

 

I felt embarrassed that I didn’t want to tell him so he didn’t have to die so painfully for me. I felt proud and thought maybe I could save myself and get rid of these sins somehow. So I looked high and low for an opportunity to get rid of this baggage weighing me down. I thought I could tell someone or mentally delete it to forget it… didn’t work. Even charity where I helped a friend in poverty for 4 years didn’t help my condition either. I didn’t seem to see any way; the more I looked, the less peace I felt. I felt more hopeless and helpless. I knew I could throw this burden of sin somewhere, but where?

So after months of keeping it bottled in, I turned back to Jesus. I thought, “Maybe he really is the only way.” I remember this verse they keep talking about in church, Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. I know its meaning but I didn’t want to add to his burden. He’s already died for so many other people… I would just be more trouble. Luckily there was another clearer verse, Romans 5:8 For God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. I don’t know how but I never realized that Jesus had already died for our sins once and for all and it was all over. He didn’t have to die again. So that means all my sins were already with him on the cross when he died.

Being more certain now, I told God, “I hope you’re sure about this. I’m gonna confess my sins to you, okay, because that was what you asked me to do, right?” So I said my prayer and confessed everything to him, bad things I did in the past and bad thoughts I still had against people, all my shortcomings. And it felt good, like I finally had peace at last and felt light again. Thereafter even when I got upset for failing my history, or when I fought with my sister, I could ask God for forgiveness and always turn to him for advice. Of course I asked him to help me to better handle such situations too and stop being a pain.

I finally recognized that I could give everything to Jesus ‘cos he was the only one who could save me, take away this silly burden. There was no hiding the burden or tossing it to others and making them take the rap. Jesus had simply died for me so I could go to heaven. =)