FEATURED GUEST: Mark Driscoll
My wife Grace and I took the biggest risk in our ministry lives with the launch of our new book, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, & Life Together. In the book, we’re brutally honest about the hardships we’ve faced as a couple. We tell our testimony, not because that in and of itself it would make a great book—it wouldn’t—but because we have hope for you and your marriage because of the work God has done in our marriage.
Even though some people will use our testimony against us, we wanted to share it to help those of you who are also hurting and want to work through deep areas of sin in your marriage (or future marriage). We want God to be able to use our entire story to help others have a testimony too, not just a biography.
The difference between biography and testimony
A lot of people mistake their biography as their testimony. They like to tell their story, but they don’t necessarily tell God’s story in their life. There is a difference between the two.
A biography is about me. A testimony is about Jesus. A biography is about, “Here’s the changes I made in my life, and now I’m happy.” A testimony is, “Here’s the sin I’ve repented of, and now I’m more like Jesus, whether or not I’m happier.” A biography is about what we do. A testimony is about what Jesus does. In a biography, we’re the hero. In a testimony, Jesus is the hero.
Grace and I have a testimony. We share our struggles in our marriage in our book, because we can’t be of any help to others unless we’re honest with them about our sin and about how Jesus saved us from our sin. Jesus is the hero of our lives and marriage. Is your life just a biography?
I did this and they did that so we’re stuck here.”
Or is your story actually God’s story?
I did this and they did that, but Jesus died, so we have hope, forgiveness, and life in Christ.”
That’s a testimony.
And here’s the thing about a testimony: while it involves our past, it also involves our future. Because we’re sinners, we need Jesus working in our lives and marriages now and moving forward. And as Jesus moves in your marriage, you must know that there is an enemy who desires to destroy your marriage, Satan.
Fighting the enemy of marriage
Interestingly, Satan didn’t even show up in the Garden of Eden until Adam and Eve were married. The truth is that Satan hates marriages because they are a reflection of the gospel and Christ’s relationship with the church. Therefore he’ll do anything to tear marriages down—including yours.
In Revelation 12:11 we read,
They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”
Do you want to defeat Satan in your life and marriage? Here’s how you do it: by the blood of the Lamb and your testimony.
Jesus, as our substitutionary sacrifice, died for our sin so that we can live in victory over sin. Through Jesus work and the power of the Holy Spirit, we can put our sin to death, including sins of selfishness, idolatry, and bitterness—which Satan uses to kill our marriages.
Because of the blood of the Lamb, we have a testimony, and this should lead us to talk about Jesus, share our testimony of Jesus work, and make Jesus the hero of our story.
If the story of your life and marriage concluded today, would you be happy to have your great-grandchildren read it? If not, your life and marriage may be more of a biography, not a testimony. If this is the case, get Jesus involved and by God’s grace keep writing that story with him.
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FEATURED GUEST: Mark Driscoll
Pastor Mark Driscoll is the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington and is one of the world’s most-downloaded and quoted pastors. His audience—fans and critics alike—spans the theological and cultural left and right. He was also named one of the “25 Most Influential Pastors of the Past 25 Years” by Preaching magazine, and his sermons are consistently #1 on iTunes each week for Religion & Spirituality with over 10 million of downloads each year.
