Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Could this be you?

I had a picture of a large rounded room. At one side was a large narrow door. It was closed and had a large keyhole. Bright light was shining through the keyhole in the door and lighting up the room. The door had an inscription on it. It said "Father". The opposite side was an open door with some people crowding around it. This door was called "Freedom". They were beckoning and calling to a young man in the middle who was very sad and confused. Although it looked enticing he didn’t really want to take that door (at least not yet) and so he looked around and noticed that there were other doors that were open. It looked like 6. Well, he said to himself, there are other open doors.. I'll take and escape through one of these other doors. I saw him try each doorway as though desperate to find one that he could pass through. Each one he tried only went to a dead end. He was becoming more and more discouraged. Well, he said, if each one is a dead end, then I will try the door that everyone is calling me to take.
In time, all the other doors were tried and all of the other 6 doors lead to a dead end. They were empty. The young man felt empty. Sitting down to think, he was becoming more and more despondent and desperate. There were only two doors left ..The Freedom door looked pretty easy and he knew he wouldn’t be alone; lots of friends were waving and they seemed to be having fun. He looked up at the Father door. The door looked a little ominous perhaps and the light coming from the door seemed so bright. Questions flooded his mind. What was beyond that door? What was this Father really like? Would I even want to meet him? What would be required of him?
He looked down and noticed a key hung around his neck. It was clear that this was the key to the door where the bright light was shining as it was the exact size of the keyhole. He looked closer at the key. The key had a name on it too. It was called ‘repentance’. He hesitated. Repentance. Hmm. Well in some way he didn’t feel very ready for that. Something deep inside the young man really wanted to go there, but something was pulling him back toward the crowd of people calling him. He looked up again at the large door that said "Father" and the beam of light shining through.
At that moment he knew that this decision would determine the course of his life. What would he do? What should he do? He was afraid to move. He was frozen with fear. Suddenly a soft, gentle voice spoke and broke through the confusion. It was the voice of a daddy.

"Come to me my son; you are weary and weighed down. You have been carrying a heavy load of guilt and shame. I will heal you, I will give you the rest you need, Come and learn about me, learn about who I am. You have many questions. I will teach you. I love you. You will find peace and joy in my presence. Take this door and choose life. You will not be alone. I will never leave you. At my right hand you will find pleasures forevermore. This is what I have created you for. You will discover your identity and purpose behind this door. This is the only true door to freedom and release. I tell you most solemnly that anyone who chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who can't come and go at will. My Son, though, has an established position, the run of the house. So if my Son sets you free, you are free through and through."

Suddenly the young man looked over at all the people beckoning him. Their voices were fading away. He knew the time was short. He needed to decide. Then he saw some writing on the wall and walked over to take a closer look. This is what he read:

"For they mouth empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. "

Now, the young man had to choose. He couldn’t stay in that large room any longer. There was no other way out. He looked over at the other door one more time.....

1 Corinthians 10:13-15 (Amplified Bible) For no temptation and no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

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