(37) What Makes for a Good Testimony?

Imagine being the apostle Paul. A violent mob has tried to kill you. You've been viciously beaten. But in God's providence Roman soldiers intervened and carried you toward the safety of the barracks. Do you think you would seek permission to turn around and address the crowd that wants to kill you? Paul did. The speech he gave could be called his personal testimony. Beyond defending his innocence of the false charges (Acts 21:28), he's defending the gospel of grace.

A testimony is a personal account of the facts of God's redemptive work. Every Christian has a testimony though each will present the basic reality of salvation in different ways. But many of us have not been trained to testify about God's grace, or encouraged to do so. But it isn't only apostles who gave testimonies to Jesus's resurrection power (Acts 4:33). The gospels tell us that many Samaritans once believed in Jesus because of the simple testimony of an ordinary, untrained woman (John 4:39). So God can use our ordinary testimonies to glorify his grace. Paul's testimony shows three things we must do to witness well.