A Before and After Christ Perspective

 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

─ John 1:12

Amy sat quietly in her seat as the speaker began to share her message. She wasn’t quite sure about attending such an event, but her friend, Paige promised this would be different. Lost in her own thoughts, the speaker’s question jarred her back to the present, “Why should we talk about our failures?” Amy sat up in her seat, suddenly interested.

“The past can be difficult to share, especially if your story is like mine,” the speaker continued. But once I saw God use my journey from who I was before Christ to who I am now in Christ, my messy, mixed up past became a path for others to experience His message. Who you were is not who you are.”

Amy, now fully engaged, began to soak up every word the speaker said. She’d always been reluctant to share her own story. She now realized conveying her own disappointments and failures to others could benefit them. She knew the openness and vulnerability required to do so would be difficult. She could do it, if she only shared the details God inspired her to share.

God accepts us as we are – with all our failures – because He doesn’t see us for who we were before Christ, but in our full potential of who we are in Christ. Telling our story can encourage others to see their own story from a place of hope, framed with a before and after Christ perspective.

Today’s One Thing

How can you share your story with someone today that will help them see their own story from a place of hope?

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