Don’t Exaggerate Your Past

Some Christians change their personal testimony with the passing of time, making it a little more dramatic with each telling. I think they want to do this to make it sound more appealing.

When you share your testimony, don’t glorify or exaggerate your past. Accuracy is important. So is truthfulness. You need to be totally honest and tell the truth.

Be careful that you don’t make your past sound more appealing than your present. I have heard believers do this. They share their testimony of all the things they once did, and as they are talking about the old days, they actually sound better than the new days. It’s depressing to listen to them. They make their past sound better than the present. And that makes me wonder whether they really understand what it means to be a Christian. Do they really understand what their past was?

I love the way Paul put it: “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7–8).

To make his point, Paul chose an intentional word: garbage. What is more offensive than that? Garbage is something you want to get rid of. You don’t save it, and you certainly don’t talk about it with other people. You see it for what it is: refuse.

That is what your past was before Christ. You were headed for a certain judgment. But God, in His grace, invaded your world and brought you to faith.

Glorify the Lord and speak of what He has done for you.