We are all qualified teachers!

I’m going very slowly through Psalm 51 in my personal bible times at the moment using a superb devotional written by Paul David Tripp.  If you struggle to share your faith with others, you may find this extract from today’s devotion as encouraging as I did.

“Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you.”  Psalm 51:13

“David is reminding us that what qualifies us to teach in the personal ministry context of daily life is the grace that we have received in our moments of need. This teaching isn't about laying out a comprehensive theology of grace. Most of us wouldn't be qualified to do that. No, what it's actually about is realising that my story of God having rescued me by his grace is a tool that God intends to use in the lives of others. As I teach others, by being willing to share my own story, I am actually being a tool of transforming grace in their lives. In this kind of one-on-one, informal ministry, I'm not teaching the person about grace. No, I am sharing my experience of grace. People learn not because I've opened the dictionary of grace, but because I've shown them the video of grace in operation.
So are you a good steward of your story of grace? Have you thought about how to tell your story in a way that puts God and His grace in centre stage?”  (Whiter than Snow, Paul David Tripp, Crossway 2008, p71-72)