Boring Testimonies

I pray that my kids (and the kids in my youth group) will have a "boring" testimony.

I began thinking about this over a decade ago when my sister, who never "ran far from God" in college, brought up the subject. Whole-heartedly acknowledging the innate sinfulness in her heart, her point was that she felt looked down on because she had not been rescued from alcoholism or a life of promiscuity.

The way this often plays itself out in the church is in the use of the phrase: "He has such a great testimony!" 

What we mean by this is: "He has such an exciting testimony!"
It's the stuff of good novels or movies. 

But maybe we shouldn't consider "good" and "exciting" to be absolute synonyms in this case. I say this not because the salvation and transformation of a drug addict is not good, but because every single salvation and transformation of a human soul is good... and exciting! 

Unfortunately the story of a child who was raised in the church, discipled by their parents, reborn at an early age, and faithful in their walk with God (as much as any believer ever is) does not register with our fleshly minds as exciting. It's mundane. It's every day. 

But it's not! It's beautiful... and wonderful... and miraculous! 

It is a gift that God would be gracious in preventing such a person from suffering the long-term consequences of foolishness and at the same time immediately plunge them into the depths of the front line fight for the affections of their heart, a battle every believer faces daily.  

A "boring" testimony is no cause for boasting on the part of the believer, for all are hopeless apart from Christ, but it does seem wholly appropriate to see such Christians as examples to follow. Young Timothy seems to have had just such a testimony and been such an example (see 2 Tim. 1:5ff). 

So I pray regularly that my children are drawn to salvation at an early age. This means that I pray that God would reveal to them the depths of their depravity and their desperate need for Jesus Christ. I also pray that God would help my wife and me to be faithful to disciple our children in the ways of Jesus. Finally, I pray that our children would walk faithfully with Christ, confronting their heart sins with the gospel and daily repenting and believing.

I pray that they will have "boring" testimonies.