I’ve listened to many people express their desire for an amazing testimony to share. They feel that their story, or the story of what Christ has done in their life, is somehow insufficient because it isn’t as exciting or earth-shattering as others’ stories. They almost seem disappointed or ashamed to share, thinking their testimony isn’t enough. Maybe you’ve known people like that, or perhaps you’ve felt that way yourself.

To have an amazing testimony, you have to have gone through something incredibly horrific. Do you really want an amazing testimony now? That’s the truth. Attention-grabbing testimonies about how God saved someone from something extremely difficult or revealed Himself in an extraordinary way usually happen in the midst of very challenging situations. I knew a pastor who testified about being in Vietnam, where he was shot so badly that he couldn’t use his arms properly for the rest of his life because his elbows were shattered. They thought he was dead and even took his wedding ring off his hand. But he wasn’t dead; he lived and was determined to tell others about Christ. What an amazing testimony, right? Do you want to have to lay there, pretending to be dead with bullet holes, and have your wedding ring stolen to gain an exciting testimony? What about people who have been saved and redeemed from drug addiction and spent years fighting for sobriety? Do you really want to go through addiction just to have your own sobriety testimony?

The truth is, what makes every testimony amazing isn’t the story itself. It doesn’t matter if you were saved from drug addiction, a near-death experience, a disease, or a nightmarish situation. You are not somehow saved more because the story is more traumatic. There is no such thing as a basic or unimportant testimony. Every testimony shares the amazing truth that Christ reaches us no matter where we are. It’s amazing that His grace is sufficient for us, no matter how difficult or not-so-difficult the situation in which we meet Him. It’s amazing that He would willingly and gladly suffer on our behalf to redeem us, justify us, and bring us back into a relationship with His Father.

We get confused and think that an amazing testimony is one that has an amazing backstory, but the power isn’t in the backstory. The power is in Christ’s work to redeem our lives from the grave. Make no mistake, no matter how good your life was before you met Christ, no matter how alive and wonderful you might have felt before you gave your life to Him, you were dead in your transgressions. There was nothing good about you or your life, no matter how great you might think it was. A person in a well-to-do suburb, not struggling for everyday resources, who doesn’t know Christ is just as dead inside as the drug addict walking the streets without a home or hope. I know that’s not the way you want to see it, but it’s true.

We don’t glorify our backstories because, no matter the severity of the situation, the consequence is the same. Before we knew Christ and came to Him, we were dead inside—all of us. Our spirits were corrupted, we were not good, we were lost, and without hope. We spent our time trying to fill the void inside ourselves and satisfy our souls in many ways, but all of them left us realizing we were missing something. We needed God. That is true for all of us.

The mistake we make is thinking that we were somehow good or that our situation was somehow good. This reminds me of the book of Revelation, where Christ talks to one of the churches and says, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” We need to come to the place where we understand that without Christ, we are without hope, without life, and absolutely and totally lost.

Do you believe that? Are you still trying to tell yourself that there was some redeeming quality about you before you knew Him as Lord and Savior? If there was anything you could have done to save yourself, Christ would never have had to die. But He did die, which should tell you something.

The power is not in your story before Christ; the power in a testimony is that Christ can step into any situation and bring it back into alignment. Without Christ, every situation is hopeless, and all people are helpless without Him. Humanity could not save itself, no matter how hard it tried; we needed a Redeemer.

Every testimony is not about the people or what they endured in life; it’s about Christ’s redemptive work in their lives. We should not be envious of others’ amazing testimonies because we should realize what it cost them to have that story. Instead of feeling envy, we should feel compassion for the person they were, who was hurting so badly, and for all the others out there who might still be like the person they were before they knew Christ. Don’t despair, though; life will probably offer you a chance for additions to your testimony, and some of them might involve more pain and excitement than you would want to speak about. Our testimonies don’t end with the initial salvation we receive; they continue as Christ sustains us throughout life with its ups and downs.

I’ve spoken about this before in my writings: Christ is our sustainer. We need a sustainer because life never stops being difficult or hard to deal with and live out. There’s a reason why the suicide rate is high—life is hard. Without the hope and grace that God has for us, we cannot sustain ourselves. So, as you encounter challenges in your life, whether they be illnesses, financial difficulties, loss of loved ones, or traumatic events, your testimony will continue to grow as you grow in Christ. Instead of the testimony, “This is when He saved me,” it becomes, “This is how He sustains me.” So, if you don’t think your salvation testimony is exciting enough, wait for it; you might find that you have a sustaining testimony that is amazing. But do you really want that?

I find it ironic that we’re still doing what the disciples did all those years ago. There’s a competitive part of our nature that wants to outdo others. I mean, there was a mother asking Jesus to have her sons sit at His right and left sides in heaven—how ridiculous is that? They were disciples trying to be leaders and stand out. We want to stand out too; it’s competitive and in our nature. But that is not how we operate in the Kingdom of God. I must become less, and He must become greater. So, we should not look at each other’s testimonies and say, “Yours is better than mine,” or “Mine is better than yours,” because the truth is, all of our testimonies are the same.

Do you see it now? One Lord and one God reaching down to a lost and dead world to bring life and save us, no matter where we were. That same amazing Lord and God holding us in the palm of His hand to sustain us, no matter what life brings. There’s a reason why He’s called the Rock—because we need a rock to stand on in this world where the winds and waves batter us and tear us down, but they can’t bring down the house built on the Rock.

What do we do about this? The thing I want you to get here is that all too often, we exalt the experience and not Christ, because we’re missing the point. We don’t exalt our salvation experience; we exalt Christ, who gave us salvation through His ultimate sacrifice. We don’t live our lives trying to compare ourselves to others and how God delivered them. Instead, we walk in the freedom He’s given to all of us, with joy that we were saved, no matter what we were saved from. We understand that there is no difference between us all; before, we were all lost and hopeless, but Christ made all of us new when we surrendered to Him. Even greater, we need to understand that our testimony is not stagnant; it is constantly growing and becoming more as God continues to sustain us through many challenges in life.

Our testimony is Christ, our Savior and Sustainer! You can stop hanging your head low in shame, whether it’s because you don’t think your testimony is good enough or because sharing it makes you feel vulnerable. Remember, the power in the testimony is Christ and His work in you, the hope of glory. So, shout Christ from the rooftops, shout Jesus from the streets. Share your testimonies unashamed. Understand that it’s only through the power of your testimony and the blood of the Lamb that you overcome. So boldly declare it and keep declaring it as He continues to save and sustain you every day.

Scriptures: 1 Peter 3:15, 1 John 1:1-4, 2 Tim. 1:8-9, 1 Cor. 1:2-5, Ps. 55:22, John 3:16-17