Your Testimony

Reading the testimonies of how other Christians came to faith can be very encouraging. Even if you think yours is "boring", I would love for you to share! Even if there's no murder and mayhem in your past, there's nothing "boring" about being raised from the dead and transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, is there?

As for me, I guess you could say I have a "lame" testimony because not only did I grow up in a Christian home and all that, I don't even remember when I was first saved…I not only don't remember the date or the time, I'm not sure I remember the moment I first believed. That's kind of pathetic, I know - it's the kind of thing that makes one doubt their salvation, in fact. But I do know I was different in the past than I am now, fundamentally.

Let me give you a taste of how I used to be, once. We were reading the Bible together as a family, and there's that one place where Jesus says “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin*”? Well, after reading that, I thought the words in my head, "He DID commit blasphemy", in reference to Jesus, and I thought that because I had thought that, I was "guilty of an eternal sin" and thus I was going to hell and Jesus couldn't forgive me.

Yeah, seriously…

I know that sounds weird, but I was pathetic back then. Actually, I still am pathetic now…but anyway.

As a result of that, I was miserable…very miserable, as you can imagine. But I was bound and determined to not tell anyone about it, not even my parents or anything, because I was so sure they'd hate me. :P

But then, at some point later…those feelings went away. I don't know, but I guess I'd been praying and stuff, and I just wasn't worried about it anymore. I just knew that God had forgiven me. I had a firm assurance in my heart of it.

(eventually I did tell my mom by the way)

I also knew that back in those days when I was so afraid of hell, even though I was concerned about religious matters for my age and was nice and stuff, it wasn't the same, genuine stuff I have today. I remember at that time, we went to a Christian club on Tuesday nights. I secretly hated that Christian club because it reminded me of what I thought was true, that I was doomed to hell with no hope of forgiveness. Later, something else came up to do on Tuesday nights, and I was happy. I look back on that and am somewhat baffled at how I felt no shame or regret or anything over missing the club, and was purely happy to get away from it. Maybe I don't seem that radically different (not as much as I'd like anyway…heh) but I do think I'm a different person, deep down, than I once was back then. Some sinners don't sin in particularly obvious and flagrant ways, and so some conversions don't seem very dramatic at first glance, but that doesn't mean they aren't.

I know this testimony sounds lame, and perhaps even fake to some, but personally I'm convinced it's genuine. Even though I don't know when exactly when it was, I know that something really changed in my heart, and that what happened deep down inside wasn't fake. I know that even though I'm still very sinful, I really do have a deep love for God, and I hate my sin very much. I'm not half as different from my past, unbelieving self as I'd like to be, I'm ashamed to say, but at my core, I truly believe I have changed. I don't think it's all just fluffy feelings stuff. And yes, I believe all the doctrines of the gospel and trust Jesus alone for salvation, of course.

Part of the reason I'm sharing my "lame" testimony is to show that there are many different kinds of testimonies. We're all different, we all have different stories to tell, and on a similar note, we all have unique spiritual gifts and roles in the Kingdom. Plus, it's always good to be reminded of what God has done in your life.

So yeah. Please reply? :3

*Mark 3:28-29 (ESV)

Wow… where did you come from?? I haven't seen you in ages! It's great to have you back! :D

But anyways, to keep on topic here. Your testimony was very encouraging to me, believe it or not; probably mostly because mine is so similar. I too do not know the time I was saved, and that is a discouragement at times. But I too know that I have fundamentally changed, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and am a new creature.

Well… I'd say more, but I'll save it for some other time. I'll be sure to post my full testimony sometime, hopefully soon. (Though… I thought for certain there was already a topic for this somewhere. Oh well.) Thanks so much, and God bless! :)

I'm sure there was a topic for this somewhere already…I could've dug it up, but I didn't. Heh heh…

Thank you for your encouraging reply, brother! I'm really happy God used me to encourage you.

Yeah, I know it's been a while. Part of the reason I left is that I just got too caught up in those Theological Discussions…all that controversy and stuff. Not saying we shouldn't discuss theology, but there are times when it's not productive, and I guess that was the case for me.

Just found this :). I'll delete the topic I just made.

Obviously there was more than one. XD
https://www.memverse.com/forums/general-chat-topics/topics/your-salvation-testimony