Amazon.com

I shop on Amazon.com. In fact I think I have bought more things online this year than I have in an actual store.  A friend of mine, Bryan Lakey encouraged be early on (because he reads most if not all of the reviews on a product before he orders it) to read the reviews before I purchased a product.  That is when I stumbled into a whole new world.

The world of the Amazon Review.

There are several types of people who write reviews on the Amazon site.  Those that are angry with the world and they take that anger out on the product they have bought.  ( I am sure that if they could do negative stars they would.) There are those that see life through rose colored glasses and talk on and on about how great the product is as if it was THE THING that changed their lives.  There are those who write because they are promoting their product (because they seem to know way too much about it) and those who are trying to down play a product so their product may be purchased instead. (Don’t ask how I know this, just trust me.) Then there are those that take a product and write a comic review of the product. ( It is these that I now look for from time to time when I need a break from things and a good laugh.)   Finally there are those that are balanced in their review and you can glean much from what they write as you try to determine whether to buy the product or not.  Each of these (regardless of their emotional state) give a written testimony of the product that is in consideration for purchase.

Your personal testimony is no different.  Each of the types of people stated above exist in your life and often give their own ratings to others of what they think of you.  There will always be group of people that will lie about you – they will say negative things that aren’t true while others will say great things about you that aren’t true either.  These people do not really count (though if someone is going to lie about me I would rather it be the positive group) what counts is the people who aren’t trying to butter you up or tear you down.  The “normal” people you come into contact with on a daily bases that see how you live, what you do and hear what you say.  What do they say about you?  What rating do they give?  For me and those that are married and have a family hopefully it starts with your spouse and your children and branches out to others.  Is there something those people see in you that they do not see in other people?

Do they see Jesus and His impact on your life and the way you live?

You + What You Do = Your Testimony

Everything that you have done in this life goes into this equation.  The question is have you had a point in your life where things changed in your heart?  Have you had a moment where you encountered Jesus and the way you had been living changed as a result.

The direction you were going before you met him changed.

What people said about you early in your life is now different from what they say now?

Kind of like, but not totally like (because you are not Paul, few of us are) Acts 26?

1 Peter 3:15 – Be ready to give a reason for the Hope that is with in you….  The question for this post isn’t can you do that?…

the question is, Do you live your life for Jesus in such a way that people would ask that question?

Can people tell a difference?