According to Bible commentators & genealogists, it’s speculated that Adam, the first man created by God, didn’t die until Lamech, Noah's father, was 57 years old. Now, that’s still about 125 years before Noah was born – but WOW! Can you imagine being able to sit around a campfire and listen to Adam tell you the first-hand account of how God created woman… of being banned from the Garden of Eden… about the first childbirth… the first murder… what God looked like!
We will never be able to pass along information like that, but what we can do is this: We can share with others the miraculous things God has done in our lives. We can let people know how Jesus has made a difference in our everyday living. We can share our testimony…
I have suffered from depression since I was a teenager… in some part because of what was going on around me in my life, but mostly because of a chemical imbalance. Thankfully, my mother and grandmother made sure we (my sister and I) were exposed to Christ throughout our childhoods – Vacation Bible School at home and with our grandparents during the summers - Sunday school, church and youth group year round. We were taught that regardless what was going on in our lives, Jesus was always with us.
Because of manic-depression (and in part, my rebellious nature), I left the church for several years in my late teens/early adulthood. I did things that I’m not proud of… some of those things I truly believe I had no control over because of my illness. Even after I had returned to church, I didn’t open my heart completely to Jesus. As a result, I ended up on a “psychiatric hold” in a local hospital because I no longer wanted to live. I was in so much physical pain (from degenerative disc disease) and emotional pain, I had given up.
When I finally was ready to become a participant in my recovery – to become active in therapy, to accept medication, and yes… welcome Jesus into my heart – my life turned around. My physical pain was still there, but I knew that I would be okay with God carrying me through. My emotional situation was much improved, because I was able to accept that with my repentance, God’s grace covered all the things I had done that I was so ashamed of… the things that were eating me up inside.
You see, Jesus saved me… and not just by dying on the cross at Calvary so many years before. And now, I want to help others know the peace that I feel. You and I may not have the first-hand accounts that Adam did in his day, but we all have our own stories - our own testimonies. That’s all God expects us to share… our experiences with others that are in the same boat we were in…
Matthew 28:16-20 (NIV)
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
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