Steve states:
One Sunday my pastor spoke about Evel Knievel coming to know Christ before he died. So when I got home, I found his testimony on youtube. I was fascinated by his sincere expression of his struggle to know the Lord. And I suppose some people can argue he was just a crazy old man driven by years of pain from injuries suffered doing his stunts. But isn't being broken what drives us to accept the gift of grace from the Lord? I know it was in my case.
His struggle to know God is something many in the church miss today. Most people today believe that if you pray a little prayer and really mean it, you're saved. No matter how they act afterwards. Some believe they don't need to read their Bible (if they even own one) or go to church.
I've been reading "Grace Abounding" by John Bunyan and was amazed how he struggled to know God. This book was written in 1666 while he was imprisoned.
From Chapter 6 (Temptation)
Sometimes I would lie under great guilt for sin, even crushed to the ground with the weight of it, and then the Lord would show me the death of Christ. Yes, He so sprinkled my conscience with His blood that I would find, even before I was aware, that in this conscience, where but just now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and abide the peace and love of God through Christ.
From Chapter 8 (Continual Affirmation of Truth)
Then crying out in the bitterness of my soul, I said to my soul with a grievous sigh, "How can God comfort such a wretch?" I had no sooner said it but this returned upon me as an echo answers a voice, "This sin is not unto death." At that, it was as if I had been raised out of the grave and cried out again, "Lord, how could You find out such a word as this?" I was filled with admiration at the fitness and at the unexpectedness of the sentence - the fitness of the word, the rightness of the timing of it. The power and sweetness and light and glory that came with it were marvelous to me to find.
Steve continues:
Bunyan continues to question himself even further after these seemingly revelations he has had.
Perhaps we should consider our salvation and what it means to be saved. Has our modern society with all it's busyness made us insensitive to God's will, God's call? The gift of eternal life is beyond any kind of value. It's truly amazing what Jesus Christ our Lord did for us on that cross 2000 years ago.
EXAMINE YOURSELVES!!!
2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
Philippians 2:12-13
12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
