Your Past Can Be a Powerful Witness

Please read Numbers 7, Psalm 23, and Acts 27 if you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year. Tomorrow's reading are Numbers 8-9 and Acts 28

I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. -Acts 26: 17-18 (NIV)

William Barclay tells the story of a famous evangelist named Brownlow North. In his early days, North lived a life that was anything but Christian. Once, just as North was about to preach a sermon, he received a letter. The writer stated that he was aware of some sin from Rev. North's past and the writer planned to interrupt Rev. North during the sermon to tell the entire congregation about this sin if Rev. North insisted on preaching. Rev. North took the letter into the pulpit, read it to the congregation, told of the sin he had once committed, and then told how Christ had changed him. He ended his sermon by describing how God could change others.

Here's another quote this morning, by Chuck Swindoll: "The skeptic may deny your doctrine or attack your church but he cannot honestly ignore the fact that your life has been changed."

When your eyes have been opened, you can see things that you haven't previously seen. When you're walking toward the light and away from the darkness, the path before you is so much clearer. When you're seeking the power of God, you can experience newness of life and forgiveness of sin. And when your present and future has been changed by God in Christ, your past becomes a powerful witness to what God can do.

May God grant you the grace to have your eyes opened and to walk out of whatever darkness surrounds you into God's marvelous light. May you be empowered and may you experience forgiveness. And may you be a testimony to what God can do.