My Ah-Ha Moment!

Thanksgiving

November 24, 1063 is a date that I will alway remember. Somewhere around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, I found out that I didn’t have to “wait” for God to save me. Christ had died to do that for me over 2000 years ago. That afternoon I “passed from death unto life” (John 5:24). Of course John 5:24 is talking about spiritual death (separation from God) and spiritual or eternal life. I had always believed in the Bible and I had always believed that Christ had died for sinners but that afternoon I trusted in the truth that Christ had died for me and I knew that I had God’s promise that I would never perish.

So thanksgiving is always precious to me. Most will remember that on November 22, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated about 11 in the morning. That event made me face my own mortality and I decided that if there was anything to this business of being saved, I wanted to have it. And if there wasn’t any way to be sure a person was saved, I wanted to get on with life and not let the issue of my salvation bother me any more. I am enclosing a link to a complete transcript of how that went down for me that weekend. But one thing for which I have always been thankful, is that I have an ah-ha moment when the promise that I was saved became clear to me. I had always “believed” but that afternoon, I became one who trusted in the Lord. Thanksgiving as a holiday was the next Thursday in 1963.

http://bdcministries.faithweb.com/Tracts/testimony.htm
(you may have to copy and paste this link to your browser).

What I did not Do!

I did not invite the Lord into my heart, I still don’t know what that means. I did not pray a sinner’s prayer although I did pray after I believed in the truth I had been taught from a child. I did not give myself to the Lord or surrender my life to Him. That is something a Christian is beseeched (or begged) to do after they are saved according to Roman 12:1-2. I don’t really know if I have ever really done that as I ought to have. I still have problems with telling God how to do His business instead of letting Him tell me. But like the apostle Paul: “I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” (2 Timothy 1:12 NKJV)

Different Strokes for Different Folks

I realize people come at salvation from different backgrounds and cultures and they are influenced by people that they respect. As a result many people tell me that they are believers but they don’t remember when they first believed or trusted in Christ for their salvation. Most would agree that there must have been a time when that happened but that they were too young to remember it. Many others tell me about their prayers and their commitments. All I know is that the Bible says that it is trusting and not doing that saves. Saved people should be changed and they should do what the Lord asks them to do. Our relationship with Him starts with trust and not with doing.

My Hope

I am hoping that many people who do not have my type of “ah-ha” experience are true trusters and are saved. However, I believe that the Holy Spirit still convicts and converts. I believe the Holy Spirit illuminates the lost sinner who really wants to be saved to the truth that believing or trusting and not doing is what gives us peace. I believe that is what happened to Nicodemus in John 3. I believe that is what happened to the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8), to the Roman Centurion (Acts 10) and to the Philippian jailer and his family (Acts 16).

The Spirit and the Word

The Bible says faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Roman 10:17). The Spirit of God alway uses the Word of God to instruct us and to save us as the following verse implies: “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17 NKJV)

I am glad that I have an “ah-ha” moment. I have much for which to be thankful this time of the year.

Bruce Collins

Meditation for the week of November 24, 2024