Testimonies

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The Success Board
by Dan Blankenship

The gym where I workout at recently put up large display board in its lobby. The board highlights different long-standing members of the facility. A picture of each of the celebrated members is posted right above their testimonies about how much they have enjoyed their membership in one of the best gyms in the region. It is an eye-catching display that really paints a clear picture of how the workout center has helped people stay in shape and live more fruitful lives.

As I read each of the comments and matched the paragraphs to the pictures, I couldn’t help but think about what such a board would look like displayed just inside the New Jerusalem (see Revelation, chapter 21). Imagine the millions of people who have stories to tell about what Jesus has done in their lives.

Such a board, placed just inside the always open gates of Heaven’s Kingdom, would have former drug addicts thanking their Savior for rescuing them from a negative addiction and pointing them toward a positive addiction – the Word.

This board would have many pictures of single mothers who were given strength to persevere by the Son of Man who knows what it is like to face adversity as a human. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV)

One would also find the struggling worker, the misguided athlete, and the unfaithful husband on the board, all explaining how the Redeemer had not only set them free from their sin but from certain death. And above each testimony, a picture of the man, woman, or child who had made the decision to follow the Architect of Hope.

The clinically depressed, the kleptomaniac, and the obsessed gambler would all have pictures and biographies listed upon the board, their stories of reawakening from a dark slumber captivating any reader.

I don’t know if such a board exist in the current and future Heaven, but I have already seen many such stories unfold here on this side of Heaven. Knowing Jesus as your personal Savior, embracing the Holy Bible as guidebook for living your life, and understanding life-changing power of the Christian faith can create testimonies that almost defy logic; simply examine the entire story of the Saul to Paul transformation that Jesus brought about.

So the next time you see a poster board display highlighting people and their testimonies, think about the success stories of the people who have given up their lives in order to live for someone else – the King of Success, the Author of Righteousness, and God-man that delivered the single greatest testimony in the history of the world. That poster board might need only one picture and one testimony, because without His, the rest of the stories wouldn’t be possible.

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