God has worked in my life. He has spoken to me though not audibly. He has changed me. Should I keep it to myself when the Lord works? I know I can't.
Angels appeared before shepherds in a field to reveal the birth of Jesus. They go into town, find the Child and tell others of their experience. The shepherds know what they have seen and heard. The ones hearing it weren't there. They wondered at the shepherds' testimonies. You have to admit it was a pretty fantastic story.
There have been times that God has used me in miraculous ways. He has declared things to me that will happen that I have shared with others. I can tell that many of them were skeptical. Years ago I called someone who worked for a missions organization and told him that his boss was leaving to become pastor of a certain church. He told me that he didn't think he would. I told him I was sure that he would because God had told me. Six months later I got a call from this same man who told me that his boss was preaching a trial sermon at the church I had told him about. He said I was a prophet. I told him that I could only state what God had told me. I don't know the future without God's revelation.
I have to face skeptics each time I tell a story of God amazing grace to me. One person told me that they couldn't believe me because nothing like what I experienced ever happened to them. I suppose those who listened to the testimony of the shepherds could say the same thing. The shepherds might agree with them. Nothing like this had happened to them before either.
I wonder if the shepherds had any fear in sharing what they had seen. Would others think they were making it all up? I suppose we should all expect someone to doubt our sincerity or sanity when God acts.
So, do we shut up and say nothing or declare the wonders of the Lord when something happens like nothing has happened before?
Luke 2:15-18 (ESV)
15 When the
angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let
us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has
made known to us.” 16 And they went
with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made
known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the
shepherds told them.
1 comment:
In my comment against the entry before the last, entitled "is God's love seen in me?" I said this:
"It opens our spiritual eyes to see how far we are from the fullness of God’s love, and even as we journey greater into that fullness, we SHOULD WANT others to experience that love of God, too, and we SHOULD WANT ALSO to give understanding to others, about how God loves men, so that we encourage men to move towards and into the fullness of God’s love, which is the will of God."
Yes, we have believed and made that decision to come into salvation; that in itself is "Nothing like this before", for a non-believer, for he has not yet experienced such. He might have heard it before, people becoming Christians, but he sure has NOT experienced it himself, such a miracle; yes, it is quite a miracle that I would enter into salvation. But the sad thing is most Christians afterwards make too little of their entering into THE LOVE STORY. Just like many would regard Christmas and Easter as "Good, public holiday coming, or time to go shopping and if you are in Singapore, time to hit Orchard Road for the light-up!", instead of seeing they are occasions to remember and tell of the greatest "Nothing like this before".
Then afterwards, too, too many of us, neglect that we have committed to a love relationship with God. We often forget the Gospel is basically God has loved us and want us to enter into a love relationship with Him, so that He can continue to love us, and we, having responded back, and so have loved God, are to continue to love Him back. Only when we continue to love Him, that we go deeper into the fullness of His love, and we will experience that incredible love. Real love story is NOT an "ivory tower" thing or stuff; you get to experience it, and when we have experienced the love of God, like I said, we SHOULD WANT to share with others. The problem is this: Many just boxed God up, treating God like one of our toys; when we feel like it, we take this one (God), out of the box (or shelf), and fiddle with it for a moment, and then chuck it back. What time or kind of time do we share with God? And then we still wonder, how come I don't experience any of these "Nothing like this before". When we have no testimony to share, we should think, perhaps, we have neglected Him!
Anthony Chia, high.expressions
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