Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.
This formerly demon-possessed man begged to go with the One who freed him. But Jesus sends him home to his family to share his personal testimony of God’s mercy.
We suspect this man didn’t need much encouragement to talk about what Jesus did for him. For a long time, he would talk of little else but Jesus! And for the rest of his life recall his liberation in numerous conversations!
So the man went away and began to tell…how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
Actually, this man didn’t need to do much talking. The change in his behavior alone would speak volumes to his family and friends.
They knew how bad his life, and consequently their own, had become. What it was to live with a vicious and self-destructive mad man!
Just seeing him in his right mind tells a very dramatic story of transformation. But it is his personal privilege to tell them of Jesus who brought the changes they now see.
A serious student of Jesus has something to tell too. A story of a dramatic liberation and a transformed life!
For students of the Teacher not only come to Him seeking a Savior from sin and ultimate salvation someday. They come seeking to live daily in the transforming presence of the Teacher.
And their changing lives tell a dramatic story to their family and friends also, as they are being re-shaped into the image of the Teacher.
Are we students of Jesus? Do we have something to tell?
So we will tell it! Using words if necessary!
Personal testimony. Jesus instructed the man to go and tell how much the Lord had done for him, and the mercy he had received. Yep, that sure sounds like a personal testimony to me.
ReplyDeleteIf we are witnesses, what have we witnessed? We have read the gospel story, but what have we witnessed? We have witnessed what Jesus has personally done for us and how we have received mercy!
Yet this is something we typically don't talk too much about. Not only that, if we are to tell of what Jesus has done for us then we need to tell where we were headed beforehand, and that can be embarassing and make us vulnerable!
Yet don't people need to know that Jesus can change lives today, as well as he could 2000 years ago? As well, they need to know personal stories of exactly how that happened. While the gospel and scriptures are incredibly important, personal testimonies brings the gospel to a relevant point, and puts faces and names to stories of grace and mercy ...
What has God done for you?
And are you willing to tell those around you?
Thanks Kevin.
ReplyDeleteRight. Jesus told the man
to tell what had been done
for him. We can and probably
should do more of this. After
all, the Teacher said so.