Discipleship Training Course

PHASE 2 – LIVE THE JOURNEY
the statements above is necessarily wrong, but repeated ad nauseam, cut off from the glory of God
and the fuller gospel, it replaces God’s gospel with a man-centred, I’ve-arrived, changed-life kind of
news.
The sad reality is that we’re not the only ones evangelizing based on our changed lives.
True Testimonies to False Gods
We were born to worship. If not God, then we worship someone or something else, like a cause. Or
in a lot of cases, we worship ourselves pursuing a cause. It gives us a sense of purpose till we tire
and move on to the next thing. We testify to the world about how this or that lifestyle has changed
us and engulfed our entire selves. This is everywhere today.
It seems many people have a story to tell about their changed lives — even non-Christians. They
select and edit their desired details, cut the rest, and paint the narrative they want you to hear —
the Facebook wall version.
Do we want our witness to ape the world or reach the world? Then why do we play their game?
Why do we diminish the true gospel down to the gospel of changed lives, and then try to sell it at
the world’s market?
Changed Lives Are a Dime a Dozen
Many religions, philosophies, and even health crazes will change you. If you want evidence of this,
just head to your nearest CrossFit gym, yoga studio, or health food store. Those lives have been
transformed by whatever flavour of self-actualization they idolize most.
If changed lives are all we got, it ain’t much.
But that isn’t all we have. We have the glory of the living God. And that glory should create a great
chasm between a secular testimony of a changed life and a Christian testifying about Jesus Christ.
The secular testimony is focused on the self — how it arrived despite the obstacles on the road. The
Christian testimony is focused on the Person of Jesus Christ, that Great Obstacle in our wandering
path — that Brilliant Light who kicks us off our horse and blinds us, and calls us to repent and be
baptized, and commissions us on his great work, and even tells us we will suffer for his sake. That’s
a Christian testimony. We were never called to reach the world with worldly standards or
approaches, rather to be the light of truth to the world.
Quite an insightful view if you ask me. We have become so used to
the way we do things, that we don‘t even ask if it is the right way, if
God is pleased by it, or if my story truly gives Him glory or slightly
deviates to me being so special. It‘s painful to see, and one can
recognise it by the way that people connect to the man rather
than to God. Your testimony should encourage and lead people
to see the Lord and never draw the focus to you as a person.
REMEMBER YOUR TESTIMONY IS NOT ABOUT YOU. AND YOU HAVE
TO REMEMBER THAT YOUR TESTIMONY IS NOT THE GOSPEL.
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