My Story
“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2
So often growing up, I would hear this amazing testimony, and I would be a little jealous. I know. I know. It sounds a little weird. As many of you know, I am the epitome of weird. However, one day it hit me "Am I looking at the testimony, or the one and only God who made that testimony possible?"
The problem with this line of thinking is that our testimony is based on us. Sure, we make choices in our life, and some of them are stupid. There is an old saying "If you are going to be stupid, you have to be tough." It is true that our decisions help guide our testimony, it is not true that our testimony's foundation is built on our past.
The etymology of guide is to lead. In the sense of our testimony, our choices do lead us in a path. However, this path is much bigger than our choices. Romans 6:15 says, "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?" We are either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness. Romans 5 says we are enemies of God. Yes, we do make choices, but these choices must be made within the closed relationship of us being a slave to sin or righteousness.
The etymology of foundation is a solid base of structure. Jesus is our foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:11 "For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Psalm 118:22 "The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone."
A slave cannot choose their master. That is an oxymoron definition of the word. We were born slaves to sin. We needed someone to pay our debt in order for us to become slaves of righteousness. Colossians 2:13-14 "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
God has made us a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). He has bought and paid for our freedom. This is a miracle! This is supernatural! Salvation can only be achieved through God, otherwise, there is no need for the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
This is why our past is not the foundation of our testimony, but our salvation is built of the Creator of the universe. My story is going to be a little different from yours because of some different life experiences. However, everyone's story is amazing, because every child of God has been adopted by God Himself. That is a miraculous story in and of itself! Every child of God has a personalized story. The question is "Are we sharing that Good News story with others?"
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