Tag: Salvation

Evangelism, Mailbag, Salvation

The Mailbag: Saved by the “Sinner’s Prayer”?

Michelle Lesley

The Sinner’s Prayer. I repeated that many years ago. I’ve also led others in that prayer as well. It was ingrained in me so long ago that it was the thing to do. Now, I see that it is not right. I read your article about What Must I Do to Be Saved? I am really turned upside down right now, not knowing if I am truly saved! Yes, I have repented of my sins and asked for forgiveness, as part of a sinner’s prayer, because I believe in a triune God. I believe that Jesus walked this earth as fully God and fully man. I know that God is always in control of all things at all times. I believe that the Bible is the inerrant word of God. I say I trust in God for all my needs, but do I really? I pray, but still worry. Please help me! I don’t want to be told, “Depart from Me, I never knew you.“

I am so sorry you’re going through such anguish about this. You’re not alone – most genuine Christians, including yours truly, have moments when they wonder, and even agonize over, whether or not they’re genuinely saved.

I think the part of my gospel presentation page that caught your attention was this paragraph under the section heading, “What are some of those false gospels?”:

If, at some point in your life you repeated the words of a “sinner’s prayer,” “accepted Jesus,” or “asked Jesus into your heart,” (even if you didn’t know what you were doing, and without true repentance and faith) you’ve been born again.

I’ve highlighted the key words and phrases we need to take a look at, because I think you may have misunderstood what I meant in this paragraph. The term “sinner’s prayer,” used in evangelical common parlance has a specific meaning. It does not mean “any sinner praying any prayer that leads to salvation”. We are all sinners. We all have to talk to God (prayer) to tell Him we repent of our sins and wish to place our faith in Christ. If all such prayers were wrong, none of us would be saved.

Typically, what evangelicals mean when we use the term “sinner’s prayer” is an altar call type of scenario following a sermon at church, a Christian camp, concert, rally, revival, etc., where someone is attempting to get attendees to “make a decision for Christ”. Often – with heartstring-tugging music in the background – whoever is leading the altar call time will say something to the effect of, “I’d like every head bowed and every eye closed. If you’re here today, and you want Jesus to save you and take you to Heaven when you die, raise your hand. … I see that hand. Thank you, sir, I see your hand. … Now, if you just raised your hand, repeat this prayer -either out loud or in your heart- to God: Lord, I admit that I’m a sinner (Lord, I admit that I’m a sinner.)…” And it goes on from there with the leader leading these people phrase by phrase through a prayer of (hopefully biblical) confession, repentance, and faith in Christ. Sometimes he’ll even say something like, “Repeating the words of this prayer won’t save you unless you really mean it in your heart.” When he’s finished he will usually say something like, “If you just prayed that prayer, you’re saved! Welcome to the family of God.”

A fairly typical altar call and sinner’s prayer.
(If you don’t have a lot of time, you can fast forward through the song. It’s around 1:17-5:39.)
(There are some biblical issues with the prayer, but there are far greater problems with the church and its pastors, and it’s not one I’d recommend.)

That’s what evangelicals mean when they say “sinner’s prayer”. The wording and order of the altar call and the prayer itself can vary greatly, from the completely biblical all the way to the blasphemously heretical, and it can be done in a corporate setting or one on one, but this is the gist of it.

But you need to understand why, in recent years (and on my gospel presentation page) there’s been pushback against this kind of scenario.

It creates false converts.

Granted, God has used this formula to create true converts as well, but the numbers of false converts (people who think they’re saved, but have never been genuinely born again) this little exercise has created are overwhelming. Why? Generally speaking1…

◇The foundational reason the sinner’s prayer scenario creates false converts is that it’s pragmatic Finneyism, an “always be closing” technique designed to seal the deal. It’s more concerned with getting people to say they’ve been saved than whether or not they actually are saved.

◇Many (not all) of the churches that use this technique are not doctrinally sound to begin with, so the “sinner’s prayer” they have people repeat is based on a false gospel. Usually, the more doctrinally sound a church or Christian organization is, the less likely it is to employ an altar call and sinner’s prayer.

◇The sinner’s prayer is often used on children. It is a standard feature of most Vacation Bible Schools, and many Sunday Schools, children’s church services, and other evangelical children’s events. Tragically, many a five year old who has raised his hand and repeated the prayer has been pronounced “saved,” and toddled through the waters of baptism, even though he had no idea what he was doing. The vast majority of young children lack the intellectual capacity to understand abstract concepts like sin, guilt, repentance, substitutionary atonement, faith, and eternity. But a 30 year old – who shows every sign of being lost as a goose in a hailstorm – will point back to that moment of ignorance when he was five, put his faith in the fact that he prayed a prayer, he walked the aisle and made a profession of faith, and he decided to be baptized (perhaps not even retaining memories of these things) and declare himself to be a Christian. And many a mother of such wayward adult children will comfort herself with this “decision” her child made. “He’s just backslidden, but he prayed the prayer, so I’m sure he’ll go to Heaven when he dies.”.

◇Even teens and adults can repeat a prayer without really understanding (possibly because they haven’t actually been told) the biblical gospel and without truly repenting of their sin. But they think they’re saved because they did something with Jesus’ name attached to it. They place their faith in the action they took – that they prayed a prayer – rather than placing their faith in the One they were (ostensibly) praying to. Their faith is in what they did rather than what Jesus did for them.

And how do we know the sinner’s prayer creates so many false converts? We see it when those false converts get genuinely saved and tell us, “I said a sinner’s prayer, but I wasn’t saved,” and we see it in the rotten fruit of the lives of professing Christians who parroted some sort of sinner’s prayer and went right on sinning, or eventually turned back to living in sin.

That’s where the rubber meets the road of whether or not you were genuinely saved by praying a “sinner’s prayer”. We all continue to sin. None of us will ever be perfect, but look back over the years since you prayed that prayer. Have you grown in your love for Christ? In your knowledge of and obedience to His Word? In your love for, and service to the church? Are you increasingly exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit? Do you pursue holiness? Wisdom? Are you sharing the gospel with the lost and discipling the saved? Are you on a general trajectory of becoming more like Christ because you love Him and you want to be like Him?

These are the sorts of things you can look to for reassurance that you’re saved, not that you once repeated a prayer, despite the fact that you now live like a rank pagan. Going back to the words in red in the quote above, what I was trying to say2 is, nobody gets saved by merely rattling off the words of a prayer. You must understand the biblical gospel, repent of your sin, and place your faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to save you.

Just a couple of lines down on that same page, I said this…

The Bible says we should examine ourselves to discover whether or not we are truly in the faith. Take some quiet, undistracted time alone with God today and search your heart. What do you really believe? Is it the true gospel of Scripture, or something else? Don’t put it off, it’s too important. If you need some help, try working through my study Am I Really Saved? A 1 John Check-Up.

The book of 1 John is an incredibly helpful measuring stick to assist you in determining whether or not you’re genuinely saved. I would encourage you (and anyone else reading this who struggles with assurance) to either study 1 John in depth on your own, making note of what is and isn’t true of genuine Christians, or use my study linked above to help you work through this amazing epistle.

Additionally, when working through an issue like this, it’s always best to set up an appointment with your (doctrinally sound) pastor for counsel.

1Please understand that there are churches all over the spectrum of sound/false doctrine who use this method, so these points may or may not apply to every church that uses altar calls and/or a repeated “sinner’s prayer”.

2After considering this sister’s confusion and re-reading the paragraph multiple times, I decided I needed to clarify the wording a bit.

Additional Resources:

A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: How Charles Finney’s Theology Ravaged the Evangelical Movement by Phil Johnson

Altar Calls and the Sinner’s Prayer? | WWUTT | June 10, 2015

Should we lead someone in “the sinner’s prayer”? | Wretched | November 7, 2014

Altar Calls: Emotional Manipulation or True Conversion? (with Costi Hinn and Steve Lawson) | For the Gospel | October 6, 2023

You’ll Stop Using the Sinner’s Prayer After Watching This | Living Waters | August 16, 2021

If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.

Church, Faith, Salvation

Throwback Thursday ~ Pass/Fail

Michelle Lesley

Originally published March 17, 2011

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?

2 Corinthians 13:5

Remember the story of the ugly duckling? Somehow a swan’s egg finds its way to a duck’s nest and hatches right along with all the other ducklings. The swan chick is similar in appearance to the ducklings, but it quickly becomes obvious to all that there’s something different about him. The swan chick is convinced that he is a duck. He tries to walk like a duck, quack like a duck– but it doesn’t work. He can’t figure out what’s wrong with him.

The problem is, the swan chick wasn’t, in fact, a duck. He might have lived with a duck family. He might have even learned how to imitate the sounds, habits, and mannerisms of ducks, but sometimes, even though it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck– it isn’t a duck.

Sometimes, even though it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck– it isn’t a duck. Sadly, this is scenario taking place in many churches. There are swans among us who think they are ducks.

Sadly, we have the very same scenario taking place in our churches. There are swans among us who think they are ducks. They walk like ducks, quack like ducks, sometimes we’ve even told them they are ducks. Unlike the duck siblings in the story of the ugly duckling, we don’t, as a rule, pick at them and tease them mercilessly. We love them, accept them, and assume they are Believers. Some swans look and sound an awful lot like ducks.

But the fact of the matter is, many – maybe even most – of the people you sit next to in church on Sunday morning are not Believers. They have never been genuinely converted to Christ and become new creatures. Some of them know this consciously about themselves and are just trying to fake their way through because church attendance looks good on a resume or in the eyes of their family and friends. But there are untold thousands who have been deceived into thinking they are saved when, in fact, they are not. Could you be one of them?

There are untold thousands who have been deceived into thinking they are saved when, in fact, they are not. Could you be one of them?

Most of us grew up during a time when there was great pressure on churches to “get the decision” and up their baptism numbers. Somehow, this is what evangelism was boiled down to. The pressure started with the higher ups in the denomination and was passed down to individual pastors, who, in turn, passed the pressure on to their church members. Frankly, this dynamic hasn’t waned much and is still going strong today.

 As a result, the Gospel presentation Jesus preached – we must repent (Luke 5:32), deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily (Luke 9:23), forsake all else (Luke 14:26), even lose our lives for the Gospel (Mark 8:35) – got watered down and redesigned into the easy believism of, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” and, “Don’t you want to go to heaven when you die?” Let’s face it, in this culture, dying to self and turning your back on everything that’s comfortable and convenient isn’t an easy sell.

(And if you’ve never heard the truth of the Gospel – that you are guilty of breaking God’s laws, and that God will punish your lawbreaking with an eternity in hell unless you turn away from your sin and place your faith in the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross satisfied God’s wrath against you – please take a few minutes to examine these materials carefully and prayerfully, and learn how you can be saved.)

Folks, I don’t care what Rob Bell or any of the other wolves in shepherd’s clothing tell you, Jesus himself said that “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

So how can you tell whether you’ve found that narrow way that leads to life, or if you’re just one of the many who has been deceived? Don’t bet your salvation on church attendance or service, your own personal “goodness” or even the fact that you recited a “sinner’s prayer” and someone told you that if you “really meant it in your heart,” you were saved. And certainly, don’t wait until you stand before Jesus when you die to find out (Matthew 7:21-23).

Test yourself. Examine yourself. The proof that you’re saved is not simply that you once said a prayer and invited Jesus into your heart. The proof is in the fruit of your life, right now – today.

Test yourself. Examine yourself. The proof that you’re saved is not simply that you once said a prayer and invited Jesus into your heart. The proof is in the fruit of your life, right now – today. Jesus said,

You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

Matthew 7:16-17

What does the fruit of a genuine Believer look like? The MacArthur Study Bible1 has a great tool you can use for examining yourself. Find a quiet time and place with no distractions, and prayerfully and honestly go over this list with the Lord. Don’t trust your own opinion of your fruit, ask God to reveal to you what He thinks.

I. Evidences that neither prove nor disprove one’s faith:

a. Visible morality: Matt. 19:16-21, 23:27
b. Intellectual knowledge: Romans 1:21, 2:17ff
c. Religious involvement: Matt. 25:1-10
d. Active Ministry : Matt. 7:21-23
e. Conviction of sin: Acts 24:25
f. Assurance: Matt. 23
g. Time of decision: Luke 8:13-14

II. The fruit /proofs of authentic / true Christianity

a. Love for God: Psalm 42:1ff; 73:25; Luke 10:27; Romans 8:7
b. Repentance from sin: Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 28:13; Romans 7:14ff; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 John 1:8-10
c. Genuine Humility: Psalm 51:17; Matthew 5:1-12; James 4:6, 9ff.
d. Devotion to God’s Glory: Psalm 105:3; 115:1; Isaiah 43:7, 48:10ff.; Jeremiah 9:23, 24; 1 Corinthians 10:31
e. Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1; Ephesians 6:18ff.; Philippians 4:6ff.; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; James 5:16-18
f. Selfless Love: 1 John 2:9ff, 3:14; 4:7ff.
g. Separation from the world: 1 Corinthians 2:12; James 4:4ff.; 1 John 2:15-17, 5:5
h. Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15; John 15:1-6; Ephesians 4:12-16
i. Obedient Living: Matthew 7:21; John 15:14ff.; Romans 16:26; 1 Peter 1:2, 22; 1 John 2:3-5

“If list I is true of a person and list II is false or non-evident, then there could be cause to question the validity of one’s profession of faith. If list II is true of a person, then list I will be true as well.“

Are you really saved? Are you sure? This test isn’t graded on a curve.

Are you really saved? Are you sure? This test isn’t graded on a curve.

1From: MacArthur Study Bible Index Notes, 1997.

Additional Resources

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

Am I Really Saved?: A First John Check Up

Searching for a new church?

Evangelism, Gospel, Salvation, Sin, Throwback Thursday

Wayback Wednesday ~ The Gospel According to Lot

Michelle Lesley

Originally published February 26, 2013

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Genesis 19:12-14

The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah would make an epic movie. You’ve got your good guys: Abraham, Lot, and the angels. Your bad guys: everybody else in town. Violence, dramatic tension, a narrow escape, major pyrotechnics, and the good guys take the day. Epic, I tell you.

But that’s just what’s happening on the surface.

If you look closely, you can see the light of the gospel casting a shadow over Sodom. A shadow that’s the size and shape of a cross.

If you look closely, you can see the light of the gospel casting a shadow over Sodom. A shadow that’s the size and shape of a cross.

The city of Sodom was so wicked that God personally came down to deal with it. Judgment was coming. There was hell to pay—quite literally.

God revealed His plan of destruction to Lot, His only follower in Sodom. But God didn’t stop there. Did Lot have anyone in town that needed to be rescued from the coming devastation? Hurry! Go get them and urge them to flee!

“My sons-in-law!” thought Lot. Perhaps he raced out the back door, slipped carefully past any of the blinded mob left on his front porch, and scurried surreptitiously through town to avoid other hostile neighbors. Arriving at the respective homes of the two men betrothed to his daughters, he must have pleaded with them to drop everything and come with him. It was the only way they could be saved.

But they wouldn’t go with him. They didn’t believe him.

hp-crossshadow

The next morning, judgment came. And that handful of people—righteous Lot, and those who believed with him that God would save them if they left everything behind and followed Him—were the only ones spared.

Is that shadow becoming clearer?

This world is a frightfully wicked place. And, one day, God is going to come down personally to deal with it. Judgment is coming. It will be swift, it will be terrible, and it will be final. God has revealed this to us in His word. He has also revealed to us, His followers, the plan of escape: Jesus.

But God doesn’t stop there. Do we have friends and loved ones who need to be rescued from the very real and eternal hellfire and brimstone that await them if they stay in the Sodom of their sin?

Jesus tells us to “go out and…compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23), and that they “must be born again” (John 3:7).

This isn’t some kind of “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” game we’re playing here. It’s urgent, a matter of life and death.

This isn’t some kind of “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” game we’re playing here. It’s urgent, a matter of life and death.

Eternal life. Eternal death.

And God’s way is the only way out.

God didn’t offer Lot’s sons-in-law the option of having their cake and eating it, too, by remaining in Sodom and being saved from His wrath. And it doesn’t work that way for us either. We don’t get to have Jesus and continue to rebel against Him by remaining in our sin.

Just as Lot’s sons-in-law could not survive God’s judgment any other way than fleeing the sin of Sodom and following God’s escape route, there is only one way we may escape. We must flee from our sin and into the forgiving arms of our crucified and risen Savior.

This is the gospel with which we must compel them. It is the only gospel that saves.

“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. – C.H. Spurgeon.

Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Are you certain?

Evangelism, Faith

Throwback Thursday ~ An Open Letter to My Friends Who Are Struggling…

Michelle Lesley

Originally published September 10, 2008.

Dear Friend,

I know you have been going through some rough times lately. Perhaps you have recently lost a loved one. Maybe you’re ill with a serious disease. You might struggle with depression. You could be watching a loved one battle cancer or another terminal condition. Your marriage may be close to breaking up. Or maybe, just maybe, you’re simply sick and tired of the way your everyday life is going. That the world is going to hell in a hand basket and you’re getting sucked right down with it.

I’ve listened as you’ve poured out your heart. I’ve walked with you as you’ve struggled. I’ve held your hand and prayed with you. And while my heart breaks for you because of the circumstances you’re going through, what crushes me even more is the despair, the hopelessness I hear in your voice. That there’s no way out. That it’s impossible to deal with the pain. That there’s no one who can really help you.

But there is. And that’s what I desperately need to tell you.

I haven’t told you before, because when everything was going fine for you, you didn’t want to hear it. But sometimes people just get to a point in their lives where things are so bad they’re willing to try anything.

And so, I’m asking you to try to be open to one more thing. If you’ve already tried everything else, and nothing’s working, what do you have to lose?

Please turn to Jesus.

Jesus loves you. He cares about your pain and your struggle. And He’s the only One powerful enough to actually do anything about it.

I’m not talking about simply bowing your head and asking Him to get you out of the horrible situation you’re in. I’m talking about bowing your life to Him. Giving up. Surrendering. Letting this King you’ve been doing battle with all your life conquer you for your own good, sit on the throne that rightfully belongs to Him, and set up His rulership over your life.

This King doesn’t desire to reign over you so that He can tyrannize you. He’s a freedom fighter. He has already made the ultimate sacrifice to set you free from the oppressive regime under which you’ve been living: you. All you have to do is renounce your throne and become one of His subjects.

What does this mean in practical terms? You set aside a little uninterrupted time to talk it out with God. You recognize that He is God and you are not. You admit to Him, and to yourself, that you have sinned.

“Sin” means to break God’s laws. You know the Ten Commandments, right? At least some of them? Have you ever lied, stolen something (even something small), dishonored your parents? Then you have sinned. And by the way, your opinion on whether or not something should be a sin doesn’t make a hill of beans of difference. When you can create the universe, heal the sick, walk on water, and rise from the dead, maybe you’ll get to make the rules. Until then: God’s turf, God’s rules. And you’ve broken them. All of us have.

What happens when you break a local, state, or federal law? Well, if you get caught, there’s supposed to be some kind of punishment. If you speed, you have to pay a fine. If you steal, you go to jail. If you murder somebody (depending on where you live and whether or not you can get the verdict overturned on a technicality) you get the death penalty.

There’s punishment for breaking God’s laws too. James 2:10 tells us:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.

In other words, if you’ve broken one of God’s laws, you’ve broken them all. So, since we’ve all committed the same crime against God– breaking all of His laws –we’re all destined for the same punishment. Hell.

Yes, there is a hell just as surely as there is a heaven. Once again, your opinion on whether or not hell does exist or should exist matters about as much as your opinion on whether or not the sky is blue or whether or not it should be a different color. Your opinion does not change the facts.

The good news is that God himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, has already taken the punishment for the crime that we committed. Have you ever heard of a completely innocent victim of a crime volunteering to take the death penalty for the perpetrator for no other reason than that he loves him? Me neither. But that’s exactly what Jesus did for you and for me. And believe me, it was cruel and unusual punishment.

But Jesus didn’t just die in our place. He did away with the eternal death of hell by coming back to life after three days in the grave. And He’s willing to share that victory over hell with anybody who wants it badly enough. It’ll only cost you your life. Not your physical life, of course, but your spiritual life.

After admitting to God that you’re a sinner, the next step is to believe with your whole heart that Jesus died and rose again to take the punishment for your sin. You gratefully tell God that you believe Jesus did this for you. You ask Him to forgive you, and make a commitment to Him and to yourself that with His help you’re going to turn away from a life of sin and serving yourself and turn to a life of serving and obeying Him. (This turning away is called “repenting”.)

Repent of your sin and trust that Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, are the payment for the penalty for your sin and God will cleanse you and make you a new creature in Christ. (This moment of repentance and belief is called “salvation”.)

Once Christ has saved you, you will want to spend time reading your Bible and praying in order to get to know God better. You will need to find and join a doctrinally sound church by being baptized. When opportunities to sin arise, you turn away from them. As you grow in your relationship with God, you discover what He wants you to do with your life, and you follow that path.

This last step is a very important one that, all too frequently, gets left out. Simply mouthing a prayer and then going back to business as usual ain’t gonna cut it. In fact, if you are able to go back to living the way you always have, with no discernable change of heart or behavior, at least a gradual one, you probably aren’t a Christian. If you’ve truly given your life to Christ, you’re going to be a different person. You’re going to have an aversion to sin, and a love for God. Your attitudes towards others will change. Your priorities will change. Your beliefs about right and wrong will change.

Simply SAYING you’re a Christian doesn’t make you one. I could sit here all day long and tell you I’m a doctor. Sure, I’ve taken some biology classes, and I do have some medical knowledge, but I didn’t go through medical school, I’m not licensed, and I don’t treat patients. If I wanted to become a doctor, I’d have to submit myself to the things that are necessary for becoming a doctor. It’s the same way with Christianity. We have to submit ourselves to what God says is necessary for becoming a Christian: true repentance, and trust in Christ.

If you’ve stuck with me this far through this seemingly interminable article, you’re probably thinking back to my very first paragraph and saying to yourself, “This ‘giving your life to Jesus’ stuff is all well and good, but my husband is dying/I can’t find a job and my house is about to be foreclosed/my mother just died/I’m on the brink of divorce/etc. That’s all I care about, all I can think about right now.”

That’s precisely why I told you about Jesus. When (and ONLY when) you give your life to Him, He helps you through your problems. You want peace when you’re struggling with a rebellious child? Comfort after the death of a loved one? Strength to endure when your body is in pain? Joy instead of sadness? These things, and many others, are just some of the “fringe benefits” you get from being a Christian. But you only get them as a result of giving your life to Christ. There is no other way.

Thanks for allowing me to get this off my chest, Friend. I just couldn’t go one more day telling you that I’m praying for you to have peace or strength or healing without telling you how to get those things. And so I’ll urge you just once more: turn to Jesus. Or as the Bible puts it…

O taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

Psalm 34:8
Encouragement

Throwback Thursday ~ Testify

Michelle Lesley

Originally published August 9, 2016

When I was a kid, it was commonplace to bring people before the church to give their testimony about how they got saved. More often than not, it seemed like these people had been saved out of all sorts of horrible things: drug use, promiscuity, alcoholism, prostitution, crime, etc.

It made for a dramatic testimony of the power of Christ to save even the worst of the worst, but it often left those of us who had grown up in the church, had been saved at a young age, and had never really done much “bad stuff” feeling somewhat ashamed of our testimonies. As though they were too boring to tell.

Dramatic testimonies often leave those who were raised in church and saved young ashamed of our testimonies. As though they’re too boring to tell.

Recently, I was listening to an older lady give her testimony. She was saved in her 30s, and prior to that had been promiscuous and had a couple of failed marriages. But what struck me most about her story was not that Christ saved her from these things (although that was certainly amazing and glorious), but that this lady so regretted her past sins that she said she used to sit and weep and ask God, “Why didn’t You save me sooner?”.

And it hit me. This lady would have given anything for a “boring” testimony like mine. She has scars and shame that, while covered and forgiven by the blood of Christ, she will always remember and regret.

And it hit me. This lady would have given anything for a “boring” testimony like mine.

If you were saved at a young age and never really did anything “bad”, you, too, have a beautiful testimony that you should never be ashamed of. God not only saved you from your sin, He saved you before you could do many evil things that you would later look back on and regret.

Lots of your brothers and sisters in Christ would give anything to have a “boring” testimony like yours.