Liz’s Testimony

When I was a child I knew that I had a father who provided for me,  protected and guided me.  I couldn’t see or touch him, but I genuinely experienced him and his care.  I loved him because of his kindness and wisdom.  With the simple faith of a child I entrusted my heart to him and numerous times I sensed his reassurances and understanding. 

I had the rock solid certainty that I belonged to him.

This was my God.  The God we meet in creation and in the Bible.  I knew He was with me in life, but I also knew He loved me because He sent His son, Jesus, to do something for me which was so selfless and sacrificial.  Even though my Father was kind to me, that didn’t hide the fact that I had a heart and life liberally scattered with things not good and lovely, which were offensive to, and condemned by Him.  When someone loves you with so much affection and in so many practical ways you really want to please them.  And I had learnt that pleasing God meant not trying my best, but confessing my sin to Him and believing that Jesus had taken my sin away when He suffered and died on the cross.

I believed what God said about Himself: “God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all” – and the diagnosis He gave about my heart: “Their foolish hearts are darkened”.  I also accepted Jesus’ remedy, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” and so I put my faith in Jesus Christ.

Even so there have been times when I have doubted this message of grace and hope, or, more truthfully, found my heart rebelling against God’s demands on my life and wanting to go my own way.  And whenever I have wavered, or resisted being his follower, I have come back to the a penetrating question Jesus asked His 12 disciples when many others chose not to follow Him anymore.  “You do not want to leave, too, do you?”  And the inescapable answer which they gave voices my own personal conviction: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.  We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”  And that truth, that only Jesus provides eternal life, draws me back into God’s grace and away from setting my heart on things that will never last.

The Bible calls those things that don’t last but which mean everything to us, idols, and one man wrote, “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”

Grace is undeserved love, kindness and forgiveness poured out to you – are you forfeiting the grace that could be yours?