“6 ‘As I was traveling and near Damascus, about noon an intense light from heaven suddenly flashed around me. 7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 

8 I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ 

He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, the One you are persecuting!’ 9 Now those who were with me saw the light, but they did not hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

10 Then I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ 

And the Lord told me, ‘Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that is assigned for you to do.’ 

11 Since I couldn’t see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus. 12 Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good reputation with all the Jews residing there, 13 came and stood by me and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ And in that very hour I looked up and saw him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of His voice. 15 For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now, why delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’ 

17 After I came back to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple complex, I went into a visionary state 18 and saw Him telling me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me!’ 

19 But I said, ‘Lord, they know that in synagogue after synagogue I had those who believed in You imprisoned and beaten. 20 And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I was standing by and approving, and I guarded the clothes of those who killed him.’ 

21 Then He said to me, ‘Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'”

Acts 22:6-21

==

Read through that account again & listen for who is in charge of the exchange.

There was already a change being worked in Saul from the moment he met with Jesus. Everything was pointing toward Jesus, and Saul himself simply becomes an accessory, not the focal point, of the encounter. This is the hallmark of a good testimony. Saul could have shared more about himself, how he was feeling, the thoughts running through his head, but instead, he chooses to focus the account on the One who was changing his story. It wasn’t about Saul anymore, it had all become about Jesus.

When any one of us give our lives over to Christ, we are handing off the leadership role to Him. We offload any self-importance at the foot of the cross so it can be crucified and done away with. The story of our lives has a new protagonist, and it simply isn’t us. Jesus becomes that new focal point, and this is essential for our testimony as we talk with people about our faith. 

I resolved a long time ago not to use the pulpit as a place to tell stories about my own life, or to use my children as illustration fodder. Instead, the focus needs to be on Jesus alone. Yes, telling relatable stories is okay, but they need to be brief and serve in a very obvious way to point toward the cross of Christ. If it’s a stretch to make it work, or if the focus begins to drift over toward us, then we have hijacked the attention away from Him & it is no longer a testimony. 

Paul, telling his own story, chose to focus more on what Jesus was doing, and how Jesus was changing the course of his life rather than fill us in on his own backstory. The reason for this? Pauls own life story had become about Jesus, right from the beginning, rather than about him. This subtle shift is what makes all the difference. Paul undoubtedly told this story thousands of times. It was the story about how he died and how Jesus made something new and wonderful out of his life. The weight of his story shifted, and things would never be the same.

Self-importance does not make for a good testimony. Pointing toward the cross does.

As we GoLove others in His Name, we should keep the focus on Him and tell the story of His love to those who need it so badly.