When you truly know the living God for the first time, it transforms your life. Nebuchadnezzar was a pagan king and possibly the most powerful person who had ever lived. As King of the Babylonian empire, many people in the world also viewed him as the most evil person in the world. Yet, Daniel 4 tells of how God struck him with insanity for seven years in order to humble him. Through this experience, Nebuchadnezzar began a relationship with God, and was forever grateful for what God did for him. He declared, "It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me" (Daniel 4:2 NIV). What an unusual and amazing testimony! In reality, every testimony, or account of how a person comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, is amazing. Everyone who has a testimony should take pleasure in sharing it.
Paul is another person in the Bible who shares his testimony. He was a religious scholar and devout Jew. Many religious people in his day were impressed with his devotion and academic credentials. Yet, he also persecuted Jesus. That is, he sought to imprison and even put to death anyone who worshiped Jesus. But Jesus appeared to him while he was on the way to find more Christians. Jesus spoke to him, and Paul realized he had been completely wrong about Jesus. Paul went on to spend the rest of his life preaching and teaching about the salvation found only in Jesus Christ.
There is great evidence for the Christian faith in Paul's testimony. The historical facts that Paul was committed to persecuting Christians and then dramatically changed to preaching the Christian message because of a vision are well supported. The question is how to explain the transformation.
When I was a student at the University of Florida, I took a class on Roman in history. A Jewish atheist (Michael Grant) wrote the text for the class. I was surprised when I noticed a whole section in the book on Paul and that the historical facts of Paul's conversion were readily accepted by such a scholar. However, he attributed Paul's conversion to "photism" a psychological phenomenon where someone believes they are seeing a bright light. I understand why he would rely on such an unusual explanation. The alternative is to accept that Jesus really appeared to Paul, an admission that would acknowledge the truth of Christianity. However, "photism" has significant problems. Why would someone like Paul assume that this experience was an appearance of Jesus Christ and then endure persecution and hardship to support Jesus? One would think any other explanation would be favored by Paul.
If you know Christ, you have a testimony as well. God can use that to reach others with the truth of the Gospel. Simply tell others what your life was like before you came to know Christ, what happened when you came to know him, and what your life is like now that you know him.
I came to faith in Christ when I was six years old. I know others who believed in Jesus at a young age as well. Often they assume that they don't have a "powerful" testimony. However, I can tell you that before I came to know Christ I did not care about God. I did not care about following his law. I was living only for myself and was headed down a path that led to nowhere. My grandmother and some men from our church began to tell me about the Bible. I learned that my sin was so serious, God sent his only Son to die on a cross to make payment for my sin. I also learned that God cared about me that much. I came to want to know Him more, and I trusted that what Jesus did made that possible. It completely changed the direction of my life. Now I love His law and seek to live for His glory. I know I have forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Like Nebuchadnezzar, it is now my pleasure to share that story with others.
I would love to hear about your story as well!
Trust the Bible is a weekday radio program that begins at about 8:10 each morning on WDOG 93.5 in Allendale, SC. You can listen to previous programs online here: http://www.fairfaxfbc.org/trust-the-bible.html
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