John 9:25

The man does not hold back. “I do not have the knowhow to determine if this man is a sinner or not,” he begins. “But one thing I know for certain, I was once totally blind, but now I totally see!” John 9:25 EFP 

Sometimes the most powerful testimony is the simplest. The opening salvo in this man’s final response to the religious authorities is a classic example. In light of the volleys being exchanged by the religious leaders and the reluctant witnesses—his parents, the man at the center of the maelstrom decides to go the core of the controversy and simplify the facts at hand.

He does not speak to what he does not know. He does not claim to have insight he does not have as to the spiritual credentials or suspect stories associated with the man being accused by the committee convened to investigate the alleged miracle. He chooses to simply state the facts he knows—because the facts happened to him. He knows his past condition. He was born blind. He knows his world before the man came and touched him. It was dark and debilitating. He also knows that he now sees. Two indisputable facts—“I was blind”; “Now I see.” That’s it.

I have a story. It stands as a testimony to the work of God in me. God’s patience. God’s grace. God’s faithfulness. These stand in contrast to my impatience; my failures; my faithlessness and folly. But my life can be boiled down to two facts—I was once lost in the darkness of self and sin, but God sought me and saved me. I walk in the light by the grace of God and nothing else. Everything else is commentary.