Pilgrim Jim's Treasure Field
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21
KJV
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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