As part of the MyCircle Training we experienced on Sunday, we were encouraged to do three things related to unbelievers in our lives: pray daily, engage weekly, and share monthly. One of the tools provided to help us share monthly was to write out our grace story. This consists of two parts: sharing our salvation story and sharing our ongoing story.
Our salvation story is usually known as our personal testimony. However, when we share our personal testimony, we often only talk about our salvation story, and we forget to include God’s ongoing work in our life. When this was taught to us on Sunday, it was so evident to me that most unbelievers that I’ve engaged with aren’t always interested in how I came to Christ but instead interested in how Christ is working in my life today. Yet, it is the part that I often leave out!
Scripture lays it out for us in 1 Peter 2:11-12: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” Peter urged the exiled Christians to pattern their lives according to the salvation that they have received and for God to receive the glory. This was in the hopes that when they were questioned about their conduct, they could reflect it back to their salvation in Christ, the One who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light! And now, we are asked to do the same, to share our Christ-transformed life with unbelievers.
Elliot Clark in his book Evangelism as Exiles puts it this way:
We know the gospel has many powerful effects on our lives: deliverance from sin, communion with the saints, an eternal inheritance. But another critical and sometimes forgotten outcome of our conversion – and part of the message we proclaim – is that we’ve been transferred out of darkness and into God’s glorious light. As such, an integral part of our evangelism is the visible demonstration of our new nature as those walking in the light. Gospel declaration is linked to life transformation (emphasis mine).
So, Church, as we begin to write out our grace story, remember to include the ongoing work that Christ is doing in our lives. The MyCircle Training workbook provided some questions to help us with this part: Why do you follow Jesus today? How is He continuing to refine your life? How does the hope of eternal life bring you rest? How does Christ and His Word impact your worldview? How have you seen God move in your life these last few months? Why is being a part of Christ-centered community important to you?
A Christ-transformed life helps declare a Christ-centered gospel! Happy writing!