Personal Taste

"The purpose of testimony is to show the goodness of a loving God."

TESTIMONY is never meant to be self-serving. It does not elevate us above the rest. Even when presented for encouragement, it should not take people’s gazes off of Jesus. Evil, sickness, and death, must not be presented as center of it, nor as inescapable and overwhelming. There is a WAY to say things correctly. The purpose of testimony is to show the goodness of a loving God and to spark prayer and worship.

“The words that I have spoken did not come from me myself. They came from the Father, who sent me. He told me WHAT to say. And he told me HOW to say it.” (John 12:49, EasyEnglish)

We should not be “me centered”, so focused on us and drawing attention to us that we ignore the effect of our words. If testimony causes others to be discouraged, then don’t give it. This goes to marriage counsel as well. Some, without meaning to, introduce sexual images into listeners, and this should never be. Others give testimony of their spouse, and the comparison for others to their own marriage is frustrating.

The solution to all things spoken is to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). By “all things” I mean ALL THINGS. I’m a stickler when writing for writing sentences correctly. My goal is for nothing to need edits. Not from a perfectionist standpoint. That is the last thing I am in so many ways. But I want to think correctly in the first place. Here is renewing the mind (Romans 12:2), which is our responsibility but is not done under our own wisdom. Only God, who created the mind, can truly cleanse it. That He created it is for our benefit and blessing. Nothing God has done is ever meant to be cursed. Our words about ourselves should uplift and be humble. Our words about others should be to present them in Light or we should be silent.

God needs no defense. What He does is holy, pure, and gentle. It will not fail, will not harm, and does not return to Him void or empty (Isaiah 55:11). What He speaks through us will reflect His character. Personal taste in another person is not a point of criticism, in any light. Our disagreement over another person’s choices is not ours to voice. There is a distinct difference between godly words and devilish ones. Revelation 12:10 tells us the devil, the “false accuser”, talks DAY and NIGHT. He is never silent. 1 Kings 19:12 tells us God is a still small voice, rather than a lot of noise. God speaks only to give good commandment and never as condemnation (John 3:17). Devils speak only to give condemnation. We must recognize the difference and rejoice in the work of others, not worried about their sins but our own appearance to them. Do we sound like compassion?

“To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Being right about another person does not give us the authority to speak against them, nor to uplift ourselves by destroying them. Imagine Jesus, if He’d behaved this way. Instead, He died for those who hung Him, those who spoke of Him evilly, and those who were swayed by their opinions. He forgave the thief beside Him on the cross without requiring anything of him, and that man is in heaven alongside a centurion who recognized who, standing below Him, recognized Jesus as the Son of God (Mark 15:39). In Christ are no denominations, no doctrinal divisions, no desire to destroy others. No desire to divide His church from His people, Israel, because we are grafted together.

And here is where we stand. Jesus is the Vine. We are the branches.

“For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:24)


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com