Recently, I taught the lesson for our kids ministry and the topic was integrity – doing the right thing even when we don’t want to. I told a story about when I was a 8 years old, my brother and I played baseball in our living room and one time I hit the ball and it ended up breaking one of my mom’s favorite decorative plates. I felt awful and at first my bother and I tried to hide the fact that we had done it, but finally we admitted we had disobeyed and broken the plate and instead of my mom being mad at us, she forgave us. It was an incredible feeling to be forgiven, it was like a weight coming off of my shoulders.
The next week I was in a meeting with some of the staff members and one of them shared how his 6 year old daughter had come to him and his wife and asked them to forgive her for being selfish and taking an extra cookie the night before. They immediately said that they forgive her, but then asked why did she feel she needed to talk to them. The girl went through the entire story that was told in kids ministry the Sunday before and told them she wanted to be honest with them and didn’t want to feel guilty anymore.
Stories, at any age, draw us in. The capture our imaginations, our interest, and our call to action. Jesus knew that, in fact He gave us the first example of teaching hard concepts through simple stories. He knew that some of us would get the point of Truth and how to live a healthy life through stories, long before we would agree with something through intellectual discussion. Stories help influence, teach, and inspire us to be better at who we are created to be.
Through the first 30 years of my life, testimonies-stories about a person’s spiritual transformation-were a little difficult for me to truly comprehend. I thought to have a great testimony, a person needed to have a really graphic story of life before meeting Jesus. I thought that the best testimonies were ones that talked about drug addiction, fighting, abuse, and wild living and because I didn’t really have that in my life, my testimony wasn’t very good or impactful. When I arrived at my church in Kentucky, God rewrote my definition of a good testimony and the power of my story. When we first arrived at my Kentucky church I was curious as to why people always told their Jesus stories and I was impressed that they could confidently tell them at a moment’s notice. I also was surprised that there was as many stories that were similar to my life as there were ones that involved a crazy before-Jesus life. God soon showed me that the power of my story is not what I had done, but more about He had done in
my life.
As I rewrote my story, I realized that what drew people into my story was not me or my actions, but more importantly what Jesus had done and how He had rescued me. My mind was blown. I felt relieved. I felt empowered to share my story in a new and confident way. Since then, I have encouraged people to learn their story – their Jesus story. I have walked through 100’s of stories with people and I am always encouraged when people get the point that the start of their testimony is not themselves, but Jesus. I have seen dozens of people walk into a conversation about their story insecure and uncertain, but walk away confident and hopeful because they are clear with who Jesus is and how He has intersected their life.
I also have seen 100’s of people affected by the power of someone else’s story. I love equipping students to tell their Jesus story in a clear way and then watching what happens when they communicate with their families and friends. I have seen hundreds of people listen to someone else’s story about what their life was before Jesus, what surrounded the moment when they made the commitment to follow Jesus and how their life is like after starting a relationship with Jesus, and then have the listener understand clearly who Jesus is and make the decision to follow Jesus themselves. I have seen Jesus use the story of a 14 year old girl impact an 80 year old woman to the point of the woman truly understanding the gospel and giving her life to Christ. I have seen Jesus use a 40 year old addicts story to bring a 12 year to clarity in what a relationship with Jesus looks like. I have seen Jesus use a story of someone who attended church all their life, was a good person and did good things, but missed a relationship with Jesus, and then humbly admitted they were missing Jesus to help bring a life-long judge to a reality that grace is what they had been looking for all their life.
I have learned that with all of the facts that I can learn in life, that Jesus will tend to use my story in more powerful and impactful ways for His kingdom. I have learned that my story of a nice, church going kid, who found clarity with Jesus on an October morning as a 9 year old, can be used by Jesus to bring people to Him and the more I share my story, the more the hero of the story is known.