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The Amish Voice 5
decision; he was forced to decide
between two options: (a) he could keep
trusting in the things he had to offer as
righteousness, or (b) he could cast those
aside and take the righteousness that
Christ offered to him. This decision
required a change of mind and heart
toward Christ, and that is what
repentance is about. It is to stop trusting
in one thing and begin trusting another. It
may not be an easy thing for you to do,
but it is not complicated. Repentance is
not about changing your view or opinion
about yourself. It is to change your view
and opinion about Jesus Christ, and is
therefore something at which you can
immediately arrive, simply by believing
the gospel.
Conclusion
When I was a young boy at home, the
man we worked for collected special
stones called fossils. We children would
spend hours in creek beds and gravel pits
searching for these. When we found
them, we gave them to this man, who
always gave us candy and other goodies.
It was always a big excitement to bring
him our finds and to receive our rewards.
One day, my brothers and I were in the
log yard, which was covered with
limestone gravel. Suddenly we noticed
that many of the stones had special marks
on them that looked like fossils. We got
excited, and as we looked around, we
discovered they were everywhere. We
started filling our pockets, but they soon
filled up, so we also used our hats. As we
gathered the “fossils,” we chattered
excitedly about how pleased the man
would be with us and about all the
goodies we would receive.
After we had filled our hats, we took
them to him, expecting him to be pleased
and excited with what we had to offer. To
our surprise and deep disappointment, he
looked at them and started scolding us.
“Those aren’t fossils; they’re gravel!
What do you think you’re doing? Go put
them back where you got them!” Gravel?
No, it couldn’t be. We showed him the
marks, but it was no use. We had picked
up gravel to give to the boss in exchange
for goodies. As we carried our hats full of
rocks back to their place in the log yard,
we were not only disappointed, but we
were also embarrassed and ashamed. Not
only did we not receive the reward we
were expecting, but also all the “fossils”
we had worked so hard to gather had
been rejected by the man we had gathered
them for, and we were left with nothing.
After all our efforts, we only had a pile of
gravel.
When the great Day of Judgment comes,
all people will be there. It won’t matter
what church or religion they are from; all
will be judged by the same Judge. You
will be there, too. As you stand before
Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and
earth, and His eyes pierce into your soul,
you will be alone.
You will not stand there as a member of
your church; you will only be an
ordinary
human
being,
giving an answer to
your Creator and
Judge.
Your
church
will not be
there with you;
you will face
God
as
the
person you are
under your religious
cover.
What will you answer when He points to
your sins and says that you are guilty?
What will you offer Him that will have
the power to satisfy His justice and allow
you to enter into heaven?
Will you offer your church membership?
Your baptism?
Your repentance?
Your confession?
Your good Christian life?
What if He still points at you and says, “I
never knew you. Depart from me, you
worker of iniquity”?
Will you be like my brothers and I were,
hoping to receive a reward for what you
worked so hard to get, only to be rejected
and turned away, discovering too late that
what you brought has no value?
The problem with our gravel was not that
we didn’t have enough; it was that we
had the wrong kind. Will you have
something to offer to God that will have
real value, or will you be sent away with
your hat full of gravel, realizing that God
would not accept what you had worked
all your life to establish?
That would be a tragedy.
You need something that you can be
absolutely sure will pass the test of that
day. Only one thing is guaranteed by God
to do so: the blood of Jesus. It alone has
the power to please God on your behalf.
If you will place your faith and trust in
Him alone, you will be guaranteed to be
accepted of God, for God accepts the
blood of His Son.
I challenge you to think about the reality
of these things. As each day passes, you
and I are moving closer to that great day.
It is the one thing we have in common. I
am ready for it, and I have no fear,
because I rest in Jesus
Christ and His blood. I
will meet God as my
friend and Jesus as my
Continued
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