People told stories to explain and maintain traditions. History was explained in narrative form. Mythology, religion and even cooking directions all were passed down from generation to generation with stories. Why?
We watch movies and read books. Fiction and nonfiction both have their narrative edges in them that people fall in love with. We love the Goonies and To Kill a Mockingbird. I know like five people who haven’t cried reading Where the Red Fern Grows, I call them heartless [ insert expletives here].
For some reason, there is a power in telling stories. They teach us, motivate us, aid us in knowing our identity, and should prevent us from making mistakes made a long time ago. God knows this. That’s why He includes peoples’ stories in His word, to show us how to act. So often we can’t simply be told, but we need an illustration to bring particular traits and ideas to light.
Next to God’s Word, the greatest narrative we have is our testimony. God has done something in everyone’s life, and it’s our responsibility to share it with others, so that they can understand God’s greatness and what He can do in their lives. Most people can vaguely quote Revelation 12:11, which says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Our testimony is a way to tell the devil that God is more powerful than he is, and that God can use our mistakes to get others. Anyways, I’m done going off on that. I don’t typically support random websites, but I saw one at work the other day. I Am Second is a website that has some awesome testimonies and it’s done with some really hip video, too. I remember praying for Brian “Head” Welch right after I got saved; for some reasons, I prayed for a lot of the bands I used to listen to. . . His testimony is one of the more dramatic ones, as is Nate Larkin’s. Their stories offer hope to the rest of the world. Anyways, so visit it, and tell me what you think. I haven’t ever put my testimony on here, so I’ll start typing my narrative soon and get it posted later this week.
