LET YOUR MODERATION BE KNOWN - Philippians 4:5
Philippians 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
If you were a glutton, all those around you would know about the fact. In this passage, Paul is telling us that if you have learned to be temperate and to properly demonstrate self-control, then you need to be quick to share your testimony with others. A testimony is when you give God the glory for demonstrating HIS power in your life.
There are many people living today who do not believe in God because they do not see the power of God. If they saw power, then they would be quick to follow. The church today is lukewarm at best and as such, when the world looks at the church, they do not see anything that causes them to desire to join. When the church first began, the church was seeing men like Peter, John, and Paul do many mighty miracles and thus they were willing to follow a God who could do the impossible.
When the church started facing great persecution, the church did not shrink. The reason the church did not shrink is because the people saw how these Christians could die with a peace that passeth all understanding. The multitudes understood that the Christians had something that they did not have and thus the testimony of their lives demonstrated the need for a Savior.
The world today needs powerful testimonies to reveal to them how God is alive and active. The world needs to see God doing the impossible through you. The more you acknowledge the works of God in your life, the more your faith in God will grow and the more you will be ready to see God do even more through you.
Remember, Christ commanded us not to let the world know what we give, when we pray, or when we fast. Those are personal between you and God and they are not proper topics to bring up to others because by doing so, you can very easily become proud and the glory will go to you rather than God. The proper subject of testimony is things where when the world hears, all they can think of is giving glory to God.
It is important to understand that you must be careful when you share your testimony with others. The best testimony is the one that people see from your life. However, when you are called upon to share a testimony, you need to make sure that God receives the glory and that you are properly reflecting the light of God to the world around you.
People often say that they do not have any testimonies in their own lives. The problem is not with God, the problem is with the individual. That individual is not thinking of how they can give God the glory for things that are occurring in their life. In this passage, Paul is teaching us just one of the areas that we can give glory to God for victories that HE has brought in our life. It does not matter if you had victory over gluttony, drinking, smoking, sexual immorality, or whatever other addiction which hampered your walk with God, when God gives you the victory over that sin, you need to be quick to share with others the power of God in your life.
The world around you should know that God has given you the power to overcome the lusts of the flesh. The world should know how God through you was able to do the impossible and give you victory over sin. When others hear what God has done through you, they cannot help but to stop and wonder what they need to do in order to receive the same power. This will then give you the perfect opportunity to help disciple an individual.