I AM...not I WAS

One of the things that happens on the streets a lot is a testimony of the miraculous power of God's love.


From five, ten, fifteen years ago.


They are holding on to a mountaintop experience with the Lord because it's all they have.


I know some preachers and church members as well whose messages are solely about what the Lord did for them years ago as if they are in some sort of warped universe where time has stood still.


Jesus is the great I AM...not the great I WAS.


I'm not discounting mountaintop experiences or incredible testimonies of deliverance. I have my own.


And had I not been brought through those dark times, I wouldn't be where I am today.


But it isn't enough.


We put expiration dates on milk and meat, on medications and ID cards, and yet we want to rehash the same stale testimony as our personal witness because it's all we have.


I was slapped with this reality almost fourteen years ago.


I was riding with Lee, the uncle of another child in my daughter Kelsey's 3rd grade class, on a field trip. I'd just met him a few minutes before we left in our parent caravan behind the school bus.


At this point I had been saved and delivered from my addiction for just a few months, but after faithfully serving the Lord some circumstances had opened the door to a profound hurt and I'd recoiled tightly.


After exchanging initial pleasantries, our conversation turned toward the Lord. For ten minutes I went on and on about what the Lord had done for me and what I had done for the Lord. About how things WERE and how I WAS.


He listened politely and when I finally stopped speaking, he gently said, "Okay, so I hear about what you DID for the Lord but what are you doing NOW?"


I'll be honest here. It's like the world faded to black at that moment. I remember we were in the drive-through lane at Burger King getting lunch for us and the kids. I remember nothing else after. It was as if the Lord Himself had just spoken to me. I do not remember getting the food, the actual field trip, or the drive home.


The Lord had chastised me and I had nowhere to hide.


It was another decade before I did anything about it.


I'd give the same testimony. It was stale; I rehashed a singular experience that got older each time I told it.


But those words from the field trip remained.


There's nothing wrong with sharing your "Road to Damascus" revelation and transformation. But if you are still standing on the side of that road, you've missed the point.


Paul didn't stand there and shout about what Jesus had done for him. He went on and shared the gospel of Christ. His experience on the road to Damascus was not his sole experience with God.


It wouldn't be mine either.


I'll never forget those words. They are imprinted on my soul as a reminder that God is not a past-tense God. He is ever-present and our lives should be a testimony of what He is doing today.


I never saw Lee again. Maybe he was put in my life at that exact moment just to deliver that message. I didn't want to acknowledge it right then; I bucked up when he said it and got a little offended. How dare he belittle the mighty experience I had with the Lord?  But I received it. Somewhere in the depths of my spirit, I knew. It was truth.


Eventually I did something about it. And now there's a new testimony each day.


Don't rest on something the Lord did for you months, or even years ago. You wouldn't drink stale milk or sip flat soda. Is your relationship with God not more valuable than beverages?


His promises are new each and every day.


So should your testimony be.