An Encounter With Jesusනියැදිය

Day 3: A Pure Testimony

As we saw in the story of the Samaritan woman, an encounter with Jesus will change our lives whether we want it to or not, and that is beautiful, but so many times, people fail to take the next step: testimony.

Sharing our testimony should be a natural response when we have an encounter with Jesus, and the blind beggar in John 9 is such a wonderful example of that step. He had been blind since birth, and Jesus had just healed him; he was quick to tell anyone who asked how it had happened.

The change in his life from encountering Jesus was so miraculous that the neighbors couldn’t even believe it was him. He had to tell them, “It’s me. It’s me! I’m the man who was blind, but I’ve been healed!” He tells them the whole story, but they’re so shocked and confused that they take him to the Pharisees instead of believing him!

Once again, the man is asked to tell them how he was healed, and he does, just like he told the neighbors, never changing or withholding parts of his story. Next, the Pharisees bring in his parents to confirm that he’s not making the story up, and his parents are too scared to stand behind him and his testimony! Friend, can you imagine having such an amazing miracle, and nobody believes you, nobody’s happy for you, not even your parents!

Well, the Pharisees keep questioning this man, and they want to know how this is possible and exactly what happened, but the man doesn’t have an answer for that. He says, “I don’t know anything about how He did it. All I know is He put clay on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

Friend, sometimes we overcomplicate our testimony because we think we have to answer all the questions everyone asks us. We think that if we can’t explain it, it’s not worth telling, but that is a lie. If you ever feel that way, I want you to remember this man and his innocent, pure testimony. He was doubted by his neighbors, unsupported by his parents, and questioned again and again by these important, powerful Pharisees, but he never changed his story. He never tried to hide parts of it or add explanations — he just said it just the way it happened. It is that simple.

For Your Consideration

• Have you ever been dissuaded from giving your testimony due to the judgment or doubts of other people? Ask the Lord for boldness to not fall into that trap of fear.
• Do you understand the truly important parts of your testimony, or do you tend to get bogged down in details and explanations?
• What are some things you can’t explain in your testimony? Take a moment to give those things to God and accept that you don’t need to understand them to testify.