WHAT MAKES AN ELOQUENT TESTIMONY?

He (the blind man) answered, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”  John 9:25

    Classes that equip the believer to become an eloquent spokesman for the Gospel are great on the one hand, but misleading in another.  The unschooled feel disqualified from sharing their faith because they don’t have a seminary degree.  The new Christian also can feel unequipped because his grasp of scripture is weak.  I contend that a powerful testimony is someone who tells the story of how Jesus changed their life.  They may or may not use scripture.  They may or may not be educated.  But who can refute the proof of a changed life!  

    A blind beggar had mud put on his eyes by a stranger.  He did not know the Messiah.  He did not ascribe to Jesus’ deity nor know a fraction of the scriptures his accusers did.  His was a simple story but one that shook up the religious elite.  “One thing I know.  I was blind, now I see.”  The change in him was evident and that was enough.

    The problem comes in when the one sharing the Gospel has been armed with tracts and the rundown of John 3 but his script is a memorized one.  He has made an intellectual assent to the validity of salvation but a life change has not really occurred.  Most of us who grew up in the church were never told that our most powerful ‘word’ was the one that told the story of the healing of our deepest wound.  For the man at the pool of Bethesda, that was his blindness.  

    If we have the guts to come to Jesus with our deepest need exposed, feeling raw and on edge, then have the guts to trust Him to change us by the transforming power of His Word and His Spirit, then we will have a story.  Our eloquence comes from our passion about being one way ~ broken, and evolving into someone entirely different ~ a whole person.  Healing has a way of changing a stoic into a fanatic, one who can’t stop talking about his miracle.  A good testimony begins with, “You won’t believe what happened to me!”  But a great testimony marries the telling of a story along with a natural flow of the living Words of God.  Because of our miracle, the Word won’t be quoted by rote.  It will be interwoven into the story itself and when spoken, hearers will tremble either with belief or rage.  Jesus evoked both and so will we. 

You keep telling me, ‘Tell more of your story.’  I’m convinced that I’m still learning what that means.  Oh Holy Spirit, teach me more about personal eloquence.  Amen