PILGRIM JIM'S JOURNEY
For where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also. Matthew 6:21 NKJV
JOURNEY
MUSIC
MINISTRY
NEW CREATION
I had been considering the possibility of becoming a Christian and a follower of
Jesus, and had been reading the bible in order to learn something about God and
His instructions. I thought that if I became a Christian I would have to make a
lot of changes in my life and I wasn't certain that I was prepared to do that.
Then on Friday, March 23, when I sensed and realized my spiritual guilt,
failures and shortcomings, I knew for certain that I was not ready to meet God
under any circumstances. I made a conscious, deliberate decision. I recall that
I looked up at the ceiling of the machine shop where I was working and said,
"Lord, I want to be a Christian. I want your forgiveness and your salvation more
than anything else in the world". I made that decision to follow Jesus, even
though I knew that it would be a different kind of life and that there would
have to be a lot of changes. What I didn't realize at that time was that I would
not have to make all the changes by myself, but the Lord Himself would make many
of them not just for me, but in me.
I went to church Sunday morning and brought home a weekly magazine that the
church gave to people as they were leaving. I began to look through the magazine
at home and read one of the little stories, I believe it was a true story, about
some events happening in the life of a family. It was a tender story and
ordinarily would not have had any effect on me but suddenly, as I read, I could
sense the plight and circumstances of that family and the tears began to flow
from my eyes and I was almost overwhelmed with compassion. That was not normal
for me. I knew that something was different inside me and that, somehow, my
heart had been made tender and sensitive. I began to realize that Jesus had made
some changes. I had not made the changes but He did.
I began to sense and notice many other changes that had taken place within me
and each time I would realize that I had not made those changes. I had a
different view upon the happenings and circumstances of my daily life. Some
things (things, not people) that I thought I once loved, I didn't love anymore.
Some things that would have greatly attracted my attention didn't attract me
anymore. Some things that I saw or heard and once would have been immediately
interested in made me feel sad or even guilty for having seen or heard them.
Things were new and different. I won't even attempt to try to explain all of
that but that's just the way it was. I was different and the changes that had
taken place inside me were surprising and amazed even me. What I didn't fully
comprehend at that time was that I was a new creation in Christ Jesus.
I found that Jesus was making most of the changes in my life that needed to be
made but I still had a choice. I could still choose whether to follow the new
insight that was within me or to follow the old way. I am very thankful that the
Lord helped me so much in those first days and weeks of my new life and journey
as a Christian. I later learned that He did expect me to grow and mature as a
Christian, so that I would be able to make wise spiritual decisions on my own,
and He began to leave more and more decisions and choices up to me. I will be
eternally thankful and grateful for the merciful and gracious way in which Jesus
saved me and helped me to turn around and become a child of God. I have learned
that it is a daily, ongoing process involving choices each day, whether to
follow the Lord or go off on some other trail. We must continue to believe in
the Lord and we must continue choosing to follow the Lord because there are many
voices that would call to us to lead us astray. There are many beliefs and
practices that are totally contrary to the teachings of God's word. We must be
sure that we are listening to the voice of the Lord, paying attention to His
word and following Him.
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin"
1 John 1:7 NIV
And that's the way it was that day, on Pilgrim Jim's journey.
James Lloyd Clark