RESCUED BY GOD

This post was written for Five Minute Friday

Word prompt--RESCUE

Five minutes to free write about it

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Years ago I took part in a time of cardboard testimonies at our church. 

At first I didn't think I had a testimony to share. My conversion experience had been less than dramatic. Nothing like what people who have hit bottom experience when they come to know the Lord and their lives are miraculously transformed. However, during a discussion with friends, I was struck by how great a miracle it was that I found the right path at all, considering I believed I had already found it and was no longer searching.

My memoir, Sincerely Wrong: An Improbable Journey, tells the story of how the LORD rescued me from the darkness that was blinding me. If you would like to read it, you can download a free PDF file to your computer by clicking on the image of the book cover on my blog's sidebar. The short version, however, is that I grew up with a desperate need to feel significant, and after a long quest for  roots and purpose, thought I had found them in New Age and occult doctrines. My vulnerability led me to believe a lie that I persuaded others to believe in as well. It was never my intent to deceive anyone. I was just sincerely wrong.

Don't be deceived as I was into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by being good. That is the biggest deception of them all.

Although we were created to have fellowship with God, Adam and Eve's sn caused us to be born into a fallen world. The Bible tells us that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Because of this, a vast gulf separates us from our Heavenly Father, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. Only one path can lead us there, and that is through Jesus (John 14:6).

The good news is that "God so loved the world [you and me included] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). It is a gift that can only be received by grace, through faith. It cannot be earned by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9), and as much as it is not God's will for anyone to perish, He will not impose His will on you or force you to accept it. The choice is yours.

Jesus stands at the door of your heart knocking and waiting for you to answer (Revelation 3:20). I implore you to open the door before it is too late. Accept His invitation to enter your life, forgive you of your sins, and make you a new creation.