A Story Worth Telling

He described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Acts 12:17

Growing up in an evangelical church, we celebrated testimony – the story of how God has transformed us. The worse someone was before they met Christ, the better the story. In hearing those dramatic testimonies, I was jealous. I wanted a story worth telling. I didn’t come from a violent life of drugs and crime though. So, I remained envious, wishing for my own amazing story. I was an idiot, not comprehending what I wanted.

As Christians though, we certainly are supposed to tell others of what Jesus has done for us. This is what happened in today’s passage. In the story, God sent an angel to release Peter from prison. Naturally, he went and told his friends about it. I was in prison. God set me free. I must tell others.

This is supposed to be our experience as well. We don’t have to have a drug addiction or be incarcerated though. We’re all flawed, and we all have our own life struggles. We all know what it’s like to live in the prison of our own self-destructive thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors. As Christians, our daily walk is meant to be one of abandoning our old life to follow Jesus into the new one. As we repent, as we obey, he transforms us, leading us out of our prison. Then, in our freedom, we’re meant to share that experience and hope with others who’ve struggled as we have.

The problem, for many of us, is that we’re still living in our prison. Yes, we believe in Christ, but we’ve yet to truly follow him to freedom. We believe, but we’re still living for ourselves. Because our sins aren’t that bad, because we’re not gang members or drug dealers, we’ve not yet had to make a radical life change to follow Christ. So, we believe, but yet we’re largely following our way and thus, don’t have a story worth telling.

If we want to have a story worth telling, we don’t have to go out and develop a drug addiction. We just need to daily drag our struggle before Christ, doing whatever it takes to pursue God. Then, in our transformation, we’ll be able to tell our story to others who’ve struggled as we have, making an eternal difference in the lives of those around us.