This Christmas, Give Another the Gift of Your Personal Testimony
Maybe you are like me and enjoy arising before the rest of the household awakes. As we reside within the season of Christmas, I find myself enjoying the dark house with only the lights of the Christmas tree burning. There is great beauty discovered in the twinkling lights.
As we step into this day, a mere two days before Christmas morning, maybe you see the wrapped gifts under the tree, maybe you have gifts still to wrap, and maybe you even have remaining gifts to purchase. Whatever place you find yourself today, one fact exists: Christmas is two days away from today. In this reality, we find God’s Truth.
It is not God’s will that any should perish; the Bible tells us so.
God wants ALL to come to faith in Him, to be saved.
God is omniscient, meaning He knows everything about everything!
Therefore, God in His omniscience knows the choice each person will make, to be saved or to remain lost. God Knows, and God Knew BEFORE we were conceived and BEFORE He placed us in our mother’s womb. God Knew BEFORE He created the foundation of the world.
Nonetheless, God allows us to be used by Him to share the Gospel.
It is the Christmas season, and the world focuses on the coming of Jesus as a babe in the manger, but even then, some did not choose to believe. The Bible tells us so, how the religious leaders did not believe, even though they knew the teachings of Isaiah the prophet. God’s Word tells us how the lowly shepherds saw the angel of God proclaim God’s Truth, while they were working in the night, keeping watch in the field.
“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid;
(The Gospel According to Luke 2: 10-12 NASB)
for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign for you:
you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
Each person has a freewill to choose, meaning God does not choose that some will come to faith while choosing for others to remain lost. The leaders who should have known the truth of God CHOSE to not believe, while the working men, the shepherds, the outcasts, CHOSE to believe, so they immediately left their flocks in the field and went to see the babe in the manger: GOD IN THE FLESH!
- Thankfully, God loves His creation.
- Thankfully, it is His desire for ALL to come to faith in Him, to be saved.
Nevertheless, God knows our hearts, meaning He knows the choice each person, individually, will make.
GOD KNOWS BECAUSE GOD IS OMNICIENT!
- Everyone will receive eternity, meaning every soul God creates will live forever, but where people live in eternity is our choice. The Bible tells us so.
- Everyone will not choose to be saved; some will choose to remain lost.
- Everyone will not go to heaven; some will choose to go to hell, to utter darkness when their earthly life is finished.
“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work;
(The Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 2: 7-10 NASB)
only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.
Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;
that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan,
with all power and signs and false wonders,
and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.”
This Christmas, Give Another the Gift of Your Personal Testimony.
Choose to share the BEST gift you could EVER give, for keeping the BEST of our selves should never be our plan. Why would we shop, searching for the gift that we can give to someone we love and keep the gift of our personal testimony encased tightly in our own hearts? Consider what God Gave.
GOD GAVE MOST—GOD GAVE THE WORLD HIS ONLY SON—GOD INCARNATE—GOD IN THE FLESH!
We who already believe should never sparingly give God less than our whole selves. The gift of everlasting life must be given to the one who desperately needs to hear about Jesus—Who is the Reason for the Christmas Season.
The end of time is coming, and yes, it is a truthful saying: Jesus could come again today. Who do we know that needs to hear our story? Will they listen? Maybe. Will they be receptive to God’s offer of salvation? Maybe. Will we allow God to use us, to allow us to be useful to His Kingdom work? Maybe. Just as with the freewill choice to receive God’s free gift of salvation, the same is true about our testimony. We can choose to share Jesus with another—OR—We can choose to remain silent.
The choice is ours to make. The word of faith brings others to receive God’s salvation. The Bible tells us so. From the beginning of the world, God knew the salvation choices each person would make.
GOD FOREKNEW, IN HIS OMNISCIENCE!
From our conception, God knew the choice we would make, whether to receive His gift of salvation, and today, as we walk through our day (just two days away from Christmas) God may place in our path the person who needs so desperately to hear the TRUTH of GOD. Will we be faithful to share our testimony? For whatever reason does God keep us here in this earthly world, other than to be on mission, HIS MISSION? God does not bring His followers home for He has a purpose for us to do, to accomplish with our remaining time here on earth.
Will we give another the Gift that only we can Give?
OUR PERSONAL TESTIMONY—May we tell how JESUS SAVED OUR SOULS & CHANGED OUR LIVES.
We must be serious about sharing the Gospel everywhere we go, with whomever will listen.
“But what does it say?
(The Letter of Paul to the Romans 10: 8-17 NASB)
“The WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”
—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching,
that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved;
for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, want with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
For the Scripture says,
“WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?
And how will they hear without a preacher?
How will they preach unless they are sent?
Just as it is written,
“HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says,
“LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”