Thursday, August 21, 2008

Decision?

As I have been considering how we got out of step with the savior I am feeling more like a centipede than a person. There are so many basics that have gone unchallenged.
I wish blogging was around in my grandfather’s day. He was a chaplain in the L.A. Jails in the 40’s-60’s. You would have loved his stories! In his younger years he was pretty rigid, but as God got more of his heart he fell more in love with people. If you were to meet him, a guarantee he would hug and kiss you. One of my favorite memories was watching Grandpa at church during the invitation. We were at Church of the Open Door in downtown LA and J. Vernon Mc Gee was the pastor. Typically most pastors in those days would require “every head bowed and every eye closed” while people were considering raising their hand to indicate a decision for Christ. Billy Graham did the same thing as I recall. I was a preschooler at the time and when I sat with Grandpa it was my chance to rebel. Grandpa liked to peek and pray. He told me the scriptures required “watch and pray” were the words of Jesus echoed by the gospels. To be a good example he would cover his eyes with his hands, fingers spread wide to see what was going on. When he caught me watching him he would just wink and grin. I know as a fellow soul winner he was genuinely peeking and praying. My motives were a little different. In my attic I have my grandfather’s daily journals. In them are the names of over 10,000 people who made that decision for Christ. Apparently the seeds so shepherding had already taken root in my heart as a child because I remember being concerned about what happened to those people after they made their decision. Grandpa was known as “the Bulldog Evangelist” and did what he could to direct the new babies to a nursery but there is no way this side of eternity to know the eventual results. The gospel Grandpa presented was pure, simple and made for an obvious decision. Heaven or Hell.
My issue today comes from something I read by Oswald Chambers.
“The statement we so often hear, “Make a decision for Jesus Christ,” places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him—something very different.
When it is put that way there is a HUGE difference. Deciding is very me centered, I don’t want to go to hell. Yielding is very Jesus centered, I don’t want to live life blindly following my own direction. How we start out will decide where we end up if we do not make mid course adjustments. These words of Jesus haunt me sometimes Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Is it time for a mid life correction?





1 comment:

jolleyzoo said...

Your Grandfather sounds like a wonderful man, thankyou for sharing apart of him with us.
I for one have no problem making
mid course adjustments. In fact, without them I would be lost.
Good reminders, keep them coming.