Lack of Testimony = Lack of Life or Lack of Love

Ever been in church when the congregation is asked to share testimonies, and all you hear is the sound of crickets chirping? How is it that Christians can have no spiritual experience of God to share with each other? I’ve been in that situation plenty of times. I start scouring my brain for some truth, some idea, some encouragement to share, but nothing comes to mind. I usually feel kind of guilty that I can’t think of anything, and so I should! Not having something of a spiritual nature to share with others at church means I either have a lack of spiritual life, or a lack of spiritual love.

If I had experienced real spiritual life throughout the week, I’d have a testimony to share. The problem is, I lived like an atheist during the week. I hardly gave God a thought. I didn’t relate my experiences to him. I wasn’t reading or meditating on his Word. So I have no spiritual testimony to share because I spent the whole week focused on earthly things. “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,” (Col. 3:2), and you will always have a testimony with which to encourage others.

Or it may be that I did experience God during the week. I thought about how he related to what I was going through. I read the Bible and meditated on it. But I just don’t have a very good memory. I forget things. I just can’t remember my experience of God in the past week, so I have nothing to share with others. But what I would like to blame on my poor memory is actually evidence of a lack of love for my brothers and sisters in Christ. The fact that I didn’t take steps to make sure I remembered my spiritual experience shows that I had no thought for how I could be a spiritual encouragement to the family of believers. The building up of the body, and how I could contribute to that building up, was not on my mind. I was not thinking about how I could serve others spiritually, and that is not loving.

Lord, forgive me for living like an atheist during the week. Forgive me for not loving the church. Help me to change!