It does no good to exhort one another to be more bold and public with our faith if we have very little sense of the presence and power of God in our own lives. If we say to neighbors, “Come to Christ and He will change your life,” and if they then ask a follow-up question about how Christ has changed ours, we had better have something to answer.
One cannot give away what one does not have. Jesus instructed the former demoniac, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you . . .” (Mark 5:19), and the man had something to tell. I am not at all saying that our conversions and lives should all be as sensational as the Gadarenes man’s. But my impression from Scripture is that we should all have some kind of narrative of the Lord’s dealing with us (See Psalm 40:1-3), whether it’s more like a Chopin nocturne or a turbulent Wagnerian opera.
The seriousness of our plight becomes evident when we realize that it is the joy of the Lord that advances the Kingdom. King David knew that, and so he was eager that his joy should be restored after the Bathsheba fiasco:
“Restore to me the joy of your salvation . . . then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:12-13).
Andree Seu
