Recently, a new song titled, I Want My Life to Preach, by Ryan Stevenson really spoke to me. The words are amazing and immediately reminded me of the last conversation I had with our friend, Reverend Dobie, before he passed away so unexpectedly. He was asking me how I was doing, apparently having heard about my cancer journey. I told him that I’d had other cancer scares and been a basket case, but this time I’d made up my mind I was going to trust God.
“Not saying that I would trust God and everything would be fine, but I was going to trust God no matter what!”
A smile lit Reverend Dobi’s kind face, and he said, “That’ll preach!”
Those words have come back to me often since then and reminded me that when we face our trials trusting God no matter what, our lives will “preach” to those around us. Acts 16 tells us that when Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God in jail, “the other prisoners were listening to them.”
What a reminder that our lives can “preach” to the “prisoners” around us–those who have serious problems in their lives–and give them hope that through Jesus, they too can survive their dark nights.
Every now and then, I give Donn a list of my most recent favorite Contemporary Christian songs. He finds them on Itunes, buys them and burns them onto a CD that wakes us each morning. We spend the first half hour of most days listening to songs that tell the songwriters’ experiences of how Jesus brought them through their dark nights and of their deep love for the Savior. What a wonderful way to start the day, to be reminded that we, too, want our lives to preach.
I am convinced that nothing we go through as followers of Christ is ever wasted if we will allow God to minister to us and use us in the midst of our suffering and our pain. Romans 8:18 tells us, I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
As we go through our suffering and God’s glory is revealed in us, our lives will preach to those around us that because of Jesus, they too can survive their suffering.
What about you? Do you want your life to preach in ways that will make a difference to the prisoners around you? Will you cling to Jesus in the midst of your suffering so that your life can preach?
Heavenly Father, thank you that when you bring us through trials, our lives can preach in ways that would never have happened in any other way. Amen.