If you’re a Christian, then you have a story. It’s a story of being saved, by grace through faith, in Christ alone. Though that’s the common story of every Christian, the specifics of your story differ from anyone else’s. You might have heard the gospel as a child and believed it then. Or you might have had a roommate in college that started reading the Bible with you. Or maybe when you were an adult you had a friend who invited you to a Bible study. All of those details are part of your story.
What’s more, your faith story is ongoing. God is continually forming all His children into the image of Jesus, and He’s using all your experiences to move you in that direction. All the pain, difficulty, and blessings you’ve experienced are being used by God, and that means your story goes on.
As Christians, we have a responsibility to not only remember and understand our stories, but also to share them with other people. Sharing our stories isn’t an exercise in self-promotion; instead, it’s actually a regular rhythm that all Christians should be engaged in.
Here are three reasons why Christians should regularly and unashamedly share their stories:
1. Because Others Need to Hear Them
The world around us is suffering from a deficit of hope. People are quietly feeling the weight of their circumstances, wondering if anyone else has ever felt the way they do. When we remain silent about what God has done, we are furthering the problem. Remember Paul’s words:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
Our story of how God has faithfully met us in a season of difficulties are meant to be shared. They might be the lifeline someone else needs. In their pain, people don’t need a polished theological lecture; they need someone to say, “I was in the same darkness, and let me tell you how Jesus met me there.” Your story validates someone else’s struggle while pointing them to the Savior.
2. Because We Need to Hear Them
Yes, we share our stories for the sake of others. They need to hear them. But we also share our stories for our own sake. When we share our stories out loud with others something profound happens within our own hearts. Sharing our stories cements our own faith.
There is a spiritual truth found in how we invest our time and words: our hearts follow our investment. When you take time to look back at your faith story, tracing the hand of God through it and then articulate His faithfulness, you are taking an active role in renewing your own mind.
We are incredibly forgetful people. When a new crisis hits, our immediate reaction is to panic as if God has never delivered us before. We look at our bank accounts, family strains, or health diagnosis and assume God has left us. But when we regularly speak our stories, we are forcing ourselves to remember. We are reminding ourselves of God’s past faithfulness and using it to fuel our trust in Him in the present.
3. Because We Can’t Help It
Finally, Christians share their stories because they simply can’t keep them to themselves. When we have truly encountered the living God, silence is not an option. Think about Peter and John in the Book of Acts. They were dragged before the religious elite, threatened with imprisonment, and commanded to not speak in the name of Jesus again. Their response is telling:
“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).
When we witness something amazing, we tell someone else. We don’t have to be commanded; praise overflows naturally from enjoyment. When we grasp the immensity of God’s goodness and what Jesus has done on our behalf, our stories will spill out of us in the workplace, at the dinner table, and in our neighborhoods. We share because we are overcome with gratitude in who God is and what He has done.
Sharing your story doesn’t require a stage. It happens in the ordinary, mundane moments that God redeems into gospel-laiden opportunities. So look back at your life this week. Call to mind the ways God has sustained you. And find someone to tell.
