Everybody Has A Story – But Only Christians Have A Testimony

My precious wife is trying to help me with a fault that I have -impatience. We can be riding down the road and we get behind a slow poke, (I mean speed challenged driver), and as I am fuming trying to find an opening to pass this person, she will quietly say, “Everyone has a story”. I think that she means that everyone has a reason why they are going so slow. And if I knew their story of why they are going so slow I would be more patient with them.
          I usually have something smart aleck remark like “they must be writing that story down in a book while trying to drive and it is making them poke along (I mean be speed challenged)”. I even tell her that statistics show that more accidents are caused by slow drivers than people who are going the speed limit or above. I don’t say that it is probably because of impatient guys like me trying to get around the speed challenged people.
          I was using this expression (Everyone has a story) one night in a LIFE group talking about how to try and understand people. A young man sitting next to me leaned over and said; “Everybody has a story but only Christians have a testimony”. WOW! This was coming from a young man who has had a lot of bad things happen to him. Yet instead of wanting to tell his story, he wanted to share his testimony of how God has brought him through these things.
          He is 100% right. Everyone has a story of things that have happened to us. But only a Christian can turn that story into a testimony of the goodness of God. We can stay “stuck” on the past and how we were done wrong or how some limitation is making us go through life slowly. Or we can turn that story into a testimony of how God has provided in every way and brought victory out of something that the Devil meant for defeat.
          The “story” is selfishly all about me and my troubles and woes. The “testimony” is all about God and what he has done for me. The “story” brings attention and pity to me. The “testimony” brings glory to God and shifts our focus off of our trouble and onto Him as our provider.
           I have heard people give a “storymony”. In sharing their “testimony” they spend 20 minutes talking about how sinful and horrible they were, including all the nasty details. Then they will give a 30 second, “But praise God, He saved me from all of that”.  I call that a “storymony” because it is all about the person with all of the focus on how much sin had ruined their life. Little glory is given to God.
          I would rather hear someone testify something like, “I was a dirty rotten sinner and I am not going to give Satan an honor by talking about all of those bad things that God has forgiven and forgotten. Instead, I am going to share the glorious things that God has done in my life SINCE I gave it to Him.” Now in that testimony, God gets all of the glory and we tell of His goodness. We focus on the positive difference that He has made in our life instead of giving the Devil attention for our life B.C. (Before Christ)
       Give me a great testimony over a “storymony” anytime. Let God be glorified and my wretched sinful story be buried in God’s Sea of forgetfulness.
​In love with Jesus – Gary Mimbs