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Wednesday, September 9, 2009 The Way, a Choice I am writing this because I believe God told me that I should share my testimony. I wanted to express to you some way that I think we should repent. I shared that in an earlier blog. I realize one thing though—that the wayward nature of mankind and his pride rejects penitence. It is through God’s forgiveness and His forbearance that we come to repent. Without a sense of His love and Grace we could only be forced to our knees without a change to our heart. I had in the past a heart of stone. I knew scripture—so I thought—and went to church and I truly believed that Jesus died for my sins, but I was without true understanding. I didn’t understand Truth, Grace, and Love. These are words, but true understanding requires more that being able to read mere letters. I am only now coming to have a sight and a feeling for the being of these characteristics of God. Let me share my story. I am a man of secrets and to reveal these things is hard for me because it is personal and leaves me vulnerable because it opens my heart and soul to you. There are a lot of things I will leave out, but this story bears my soul, and I want you to know it may be therapeutic to me, but really I share my own story to give you an example of God’s Truth, Grace, and Love. First I was given an illustration of the Way. Matt 7 records the words of Jesus Christ: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? “Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy fn that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Jesus describes two and only two ways. One easy wide that leads to destruction. This is the way to Hell. The other way is narrow and hard and few there are that find it. This leads to everlasting life and paradise—New Jerusalem. Here is an illustration I believe from the Holy Ghost. There was a man on a road at a fork. He saw another man at this fork and inquired about which one led to his destination. The signs on both forks declared that they head toward the destination. Now, the man at the forks told the traveler, “Take this trail that I made. I made the trail and made a bridge over the river, and it will take you—if you stay on the trail—to your destination.” The man said, “the trail is not well paved as this other, and I see a new shiny bridge on this well marked road up ahead. Not only that, I see others on this road but not on your trail.” The man had an urge to listen to the man, however, and asked, “How do I know the truth, which way?” The man showed him a book, a journal, and said, “This book shows how I made the trail, how I made the bridge, how I found out the other bridge was out. This book tells you what you need to know.” The traveler thought and responded, “How do I know it is the truth, there are many books and this other way is well travelled?” Right then a voice said, “This is my son, hear him.” It was a voice from heaven, supernatural and he felt a yearning in his heart to listen to the man, but he doubted that he heard anything. The man at the fork told him plainly, “you must believe me.” The man thought, in my soul I know somehow this man is the Truth. If I go down this road I will cross safely this river, but if I don’t believe this man I will go the other way, and even though I see many on the other wide paved road, I believe this man, and his book, that they are headed to destruction. I don’t really know if I heard that voice, and if I did where did it come from? And I don’t understand how I know this Truth. I feel as though a Spirit from the Author of this book and the One that spoke lets me know. The man believed the other man’s witness and took him at his word. So he believed and travelled down that Way. As he got to the bridge he had doubts, but he thought of the man’s words and it strengthened him. He crossed the bridge, believing the man and his bridge, trusting him. As he got to the other side he looked down in the river and saw faces of those who had been on the well paved road and they had drown in the river because the bridge was out the other way. He mourned for them, but he could not save them, he realized that the man at the forks told them of the trail like him, but they did not believe him. It hurt the man and then in awe he wondered at the fact that somehow he believed, he was thankful. He was thankful that he wanted to go down, and would have gone down the other road, but undeservedly the man at the fork lead him to choose another way. As he left to his destination he arrived tired because the way was hard but ever so grateful. He talked to one sitting down resting and reclined at a restaurant and hotel, and told him of his story, and the man, and the bridge, and his choice. The people listening around him said, “we know you chose the trail because you are here.” As he wondered at this, the other man said, “do you know that man was a spirit-man. True he has a body, but he died just as he finished the bridge. Now he humbly tells others about the Way and his Word.” “How can I ever thank him, he truly saved my life,” the resting traveler spoke. “I believe I have some wisdom,” the other man replied. “By choosing the Way you have and are pleasing Him. He did not die for nothing.” What is His Name? “Jesus. Come meet the Father.” Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the father except by Him I think I’ll wait on my testimony; there is no way to top Jesus’ testimony. And after all it is just a story how I met a man at the fork of a road. Thank you and praise you Jesus. Amen. |