Last night out of nowhere I found myself in what seemed like a prayer meeting in an Adventist church. When it was my turn to give my testimony I spoke spontaneously. I had only one thing on my mind and that was to quote from Ezekiel about how God will give us a heart of flesh in place of our heart of stone. God would write his laws upon our hearts and move us, yes move us, to obey his commandments and comply with his decrees.
I mentioned to those present that a friend from college had once said that unless God honors his covenant promises to change us into his likeness, then the promise just quoted would prove invalid. Only God can do what he says he would do for us and to us. We are powerless to do that for ourselves.
I then mentioned to the astonishment of all there, that until God wrote those laws on our hearts and caused us to obey his commands, it made little difference whether we of our own effort and power, complied with those commands. We cannot produce genuine righteousness of our own. Any we might try to produce so as to make true the words of the promise would be tainted with selfishness and humanity.
I was concerned what further reaction my words would cause upon the brethren present so I left the building as suddenly as I had entered it.
Later on, I could only wonder how I had been able to stand up and look all those folk in the eye and say such bold things. Nevertheless, it warmed my heart that someone had had enough conviction and resolve to say that in front of a group of Adventist believers.
No comments:
Post a Comment