wretched
janice jotted on Tuesday, January 24, 2006 @ 9:41 PM
this entry is written by JANICE...
have you ever experienced this kind of situation before?
you sit among the congregation listening to someone sharing his life-changing testimony. he talks about how screwed his previous life was, like addictions to drugs, pornography, sexual immorality, or simply someone who felt like there was no purpose in life until he knew about Jesus Christ?simply which, everyone is greatly touched by his testimony and they start to exclaim in joy and excitement. they could feel God's hand at work in that person's life, even a pre-believer would have felt God tugging at his heart.
and there you are seating, silently wishing that you had such a wonderful testimony to share. a testimony that you can always use whenever you share the good news of Christ to a pre-believer. a testimony that can simply blow someone off his feet, so that he would know how great our Lord is and how He has impacted your life. if you havent, i have.
im born into a Christian family and although i understand that im really blessed to grow up in such a conducive environment, i've often wished that i had a life changing testimony to share with my frens or with pre-believers whenever we are out evangelising. i even contemplated whether i should try becoming a 'bad' person and go against God and experience for myself how God can actually change me. and then WA-LA! i have a life changing testimony! and then i would have a deeper hunger for Christ after experiencing what He has done for me.
however, in SERVE yesterday, the speaker was casually sharing with us how his fren came up to him and told him that if only he was a really 'bad' person in the past, he would hunger for Christ even more. and it struck me because that was exactly what im experiencing!!but now i understand that it is not how 'bad' a person you were in the past that determines how much you seek after God, but its realising how wretched we are. EVERYONE is a wretched sinner and it is only by the grace of God that we are saved. and there are NO DEGREE in sin. lying and committing adultery is still a sin. there is no small or big sin. every sin IS a sin.
Christ died on the cross for our sins, which to everyone, should be our life changing testimony. it is by His grace that we are saved.
Romans 3:22-26 (New International Version)
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
