In his autobiography, atheist Bertrand Russell wrote, “We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and the emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is the voice of one drowning; and in a moment the silence returns.”¹ That’s the despair of atheism. It says, “Life has no purpose. It’s empty.” However, even people who believe in God can suffer despair.

Some people get disabled from an illness or accident and may be tempted to despair. As a young boy, I remember going to the movie theater to see the movie Joni about Joni Eareckson Tada. As a teenager, Joni was swimming in a lake and dove into the water. That was the last time she ever had the use of her legs. She became paralyzed from the neck down. As she lay in the hospital, she went into deep despair. She couldn’t imagine a meaningful life in her condition. She thought she’d be better off dead. She wanted to kill herself, but her motionless body was unable to act on what her mind dreamed to do.

In the days of Jesus, there lived a man who probably went through similar days of despair. The Bible only gives us a small snapshot of his nameless life, and I don’t know what he went through. However, imagine with me that this despairing man’s name was Jonas and that his story went something like this.

Jonas grew up in Samaria with his family. As a little boy, he didn’t pick up on the strong distaste that the Jews had for Samaritans. The only kind of people that he didn’t care to play with as a kid were the girls. Jews and Samaritans—what’s the difference? As an older child, he would venture sometimes with his father into Jewish territory. During these trips, he noticed that the Jews were very unpleasant to be around. The Jews treated his father and him like filthy animals. Jonas didn’t understand why, and the question stayed in his mind.

One day Jonas had to ask his father about this issue. He inquired, “Father, why do the Jews treat us so badly, like we’re criminals or something?”

His father knew the question would come up one day, and he was prepared to answer. “Jonas, a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, our ancestors in the Northern Kingdom of Israel were invaded by a foreign army—the Assyrians. Some of our people were killed. A number were imprisoned, and others were enslaved. Many were carried off to Assyria, but many remained in Israel around Samaria. The king of Assyria sent non-Jewish people under his rule to live among us and intermarry with us. Our pure Jewish blood became mixed with Gentile blood. The Jews of the Southern Kingdom of Judah around Jerusalem prided themselves in their pure Jewish blood. Because of our mixing with the Assyrians, we no longer fit in with the pure Jews. We became a new people, a Jewish-Gentile mix of people, who all happened to live in and around Samaria. That’s why we’re called Samaritans. Jonas, it’s true that we’re no longer pure Jews in our heritage, but we’re people, just like the Jews outside of Samaria. It’s not right that they treat us like this. The fact is that they do, and we have to learn to live with it as best as we can. Jonas, do you understand what I’ve told you?”

Jonas replied, “Yes, Father, but I don’t agree with it, and I don’t like it.”

His father said, “Yes, Jonas, I don’t like it either.”

From that moment on, Jonas developed a strong distaste for the Jews because of their strong distaste for him.
 
With the passing of time, Jonas married Hannah. Even though the marriage was arranged by his and Hannah’s parents, he soon loved her as if he’d chosen her himself. Around their first anniversary, Hannah gave birth to their first child—a son. Jonas wondered about his own birth. Was this how his father felt when his mom gave birth to him? How he loved this little boy. He knew that one day he’d have the same talk with his son as his father had with him. Until then, he would enjoy watching him grow and play in his innocence. Soon another boy arrived, and not long after that a girl was born. He loved his boys with all his heart as he saw himself in them, but this girl was something new altogether. He wanted to teach his boys to be strong men, but what would he do with a baby girl. He soon found that when you love a child, it doesn’t matter whether they’re boys or girls.

His daughter was only nine months old when he first noticed it—a small red patch of skin on his leg. Inconspicuously, he found some treatments and began doctoring himself. When his daughter’s first birthday arrived, the small red patch had become a large, numb, red patch with sores all over his left thigh. Obviously, the treatments weren’t working, but he figured that it was just something he caught from working out in the fields everyday—some reaction to something out there. Maybe if he’d stay away from the fields for a while it would clear up, so he leased his field to someone else and began working in his father-in-law’s bakery. However, the skin issue was becoming more and more difficult to hide from Hannah, and the new line of work did not help matters at all.

Soon Hannah was expecting again, and the rash and sores had traveled down his leg all the way to his foot. After one more sleepless night, he uncovered his leg and revealed the secret to Hannah. She was shocked. Her shock frightened him. The thought had entered his mind, but the look on her face showed what she believed about it.

He asked the question he never wanted to ask, “Hannah, do you think it’s leprosy?”

Hannah said, “I’m not sure. It’s probably just a rash that will go away in a week or two. I don’t think it’s leprosy.”

Jonas responded, “Hannah, I noticed this rash almost a year ago. I didn’t want to bother you with it, so I tried to treat it myself, thinking that it would go away soon. It just got worse. That’s why I changed jobs several months ago. I thought a different work environment would help, but it didn’t. I can’t fix it, Hannah. I just don’t know what to do.”

Hannah seemed shocked all over again with the news that he’d had the condition for so long and had kept it from her. She said, “Did it ever occur to you that I would want to know about all this? If it’s leprosy, you could’ve given it to one of the kids. We could’ve been going through this together.”

After two tense days, the couple went to see her parents to talk to them about Jonas’ leg. After a quick examination, both of Hannah’s parents quickly responded that the rash was indeed leprosy, and, for the safety of the family, Jonas needed to go see the priest in Samaria. Reluctantly, Jonas made the trip into Samaria, and the priest affirmed everyone’s suspicions. He was ordered to perform certain rituals and cleansings. If after seven days the rash was not better, he would have to move to the leper camp near his home on the border between Samaria and Galilee to the north.

That was the worst week of his life. He knew that the rash would not go away. He did all that the priest said to do, but he basically spent that week preparing for his departure. Every minute with his wife and kids was like his last minute to live. Every word, every smile, every tear, every hug, every kiss, he locked into his memory. The smell of his wife’s clothes and the laugh of his baby girl, he tried to seal in his brain for future days.

Finally, the day came. He grabbed his bag. He gave his last hugs to the kids, felt one last kick of his unborn baby, and kissed his wife for the last time. He closed the door behind him. He knew he wouldn’t enter his house again. Then he made the lonely trip to the priest who gave him the verdict—life separated from society as an untouchable. As a Samaritan, he was already an outcast to the Jews. Now he was an outcast to practically everyone else—especially everyone that mattered to him, his wife and kids and the rest of his family.

As he made the journey to the leper colony, suicidal thoughts rushed into his mind. He walked to the edge of a cliff and peered over. He could end it all right now. He didn’t have to endure the lonely days and nights away from his loved ones. For all the despair he was feeling in this moment, he could not bring himself to jump. His will to live was too strong, and he climbed back down and continued walking to his new home. However, the deathly thoughts that entered his mind on that day never left him. They were a constant nagging of purposelessness in life. He was an outcast from every normal person. Surely, he was even an outcast to God.

He made his new home among the hopeless rejects of society. Back when he was home, Jonas once hoped to be cured, but he’d heard the reports. If you were banished with leprosy, it was a lifelong sentence. Nobody was ever cured. All hope was gone. His despair turned into bitterness. Never would he hold his wife in his arms. Never would he hear his boys arguing with the neighborhood boys about whose father was stronger. Never would he see his daughter marry. Never would he ever hold that yet to be born baby.

Time passed, and his new reality became an old burden. Each week, he’d see his family at a distance as they would leave clothes and food, but it was not comforting to yell out conversations and never feel the touch of love. Never could he see into the eyes of his family. Their meetings were only a mirage. Sometimes he felt that it would be better if they would never come again, just leave him in his misery. All those memories that he’d locked away for sweet remembrance came to his mind in his dreams. They were so real and present to him in those dreams. He could touch them and feel their touch, but every time he would awake to a living nightmare with only hopelessness to cling to.

But in the bleakness, he found friendship with the other outcasts. One thing that he learned in his years in the leper colony: Pureblooded Jews came down with leprosy, too, and being a Jew or a Samaritan didn’t matter in the colony. They were all lepers, and that was all that mattered. In their misery, they included one another.

Years later, after his older daughter’s marriage, talk in the colony spread about a Jewish miracle worker being in the area on the border between Samaria and Galilee. Jonas had heard people talk about Jesus before, and he hadn’t expected anything from Him since Jesus was a normal Jew, and Jonas was a Samaritan leper. However, the talk now was that Jesus was close by. Some Jewish lepers from the colony had decided to go into town to try to see Jesus. If the reports were true, was there any hope that he could be healed? He was just a Samaritan and a leper at that. Why would a Jew care about a Samaritan? Even more, why would a Jew care about a Samaritan leper? Maybe if he went with that crowd of Jewish lepers from the colony, he could blend in with them. Jonas decided to give it a shot.  He hurried to catch up with the castaway crew.

He tried not to get his hopes up too high only to be dashed, but he couldn’t help but think about his newly married daughter and all the grandkids that would be born. He thought again about his boys, now men and farming his land, and his younger daughter who was soon to be married as well, the daughter he'd never even touched. Of course, he never could wipe from his mind the haunting memory of Hannah’s last kiss. He joined the group, and they made their way into town. Nine Jewish lepers and one Samaritan outcast.

They entered the village, but Jesus was nowhere in sight. They made their normal pronouncement of “Unclean!” everywhere they went and stayed a far distance from the townsfolk. In distant and loud conversations, they found out that Jesus had not been to this village. Great, they’d have to keep searching. The ten lepers sat down to eat their lunches. When they had finished lunch, they heard a soft rumble on the edge of town. Someone said, “Hush!” And all ten men listened intently as the noise grew louder and louder. Maybe this was the man they’d come to see.

Now here is Luke’s historical account of the ten lepers.

“While traveling to Jerusalem, He passed between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten men with leprosy met Him. They stood at a distance and raised their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!’

“When He saw them, He told them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And while they were going, they were healed.

“But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Didn’t any return to give glory to God except this foreigner?’ And He told him, ‘Get up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you.’” Luke 17:11-19 Christian Standard Bible

Although I made up the first part of the story about Jonas, this account from Luke is real. It’s historical, and those ten lepers who were healed by Jesus that day were real people with real families and real despair and heartache. I made up the first part about Jonas to help us connect with this Samaritan who returned to thank Jesus. Whether the Samaritan was anything like Jonas or not, Jesus’ healing gave this man much for which to thank Jesus.
Here are a few things we can learn from this brief passage in the Gospel of Luke. We see that the lepers cried out to Jesus for mercy in their situation. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” They were desperate, and they’d run out of options, so they cried out to Jesus with what little faith they had. They asked Jesus for mercy.

IN YOUR DESPERATE SITUATIONS, CRY OUT TO JESUS FOR MERCY.

Plead for mercy from the Lord. These lepers knew that they had nothing to offer Jesus. They simply pled for His mercy. That’s how we must approach the Lord.

• We are spiritually bankrupt.
• We’re impoverished beggars.
• We’re spiritual lepers in need of a touch from God.

Cry out for mercy from the Lord.

We also see that Jesus calls the lepers to respond to Him in faith—to act in belief. He doesn’t touch them or say “Be healed!” He tells them to go show themselves to the priests. This is what they've wanted to do for years, but they still looked messed up. As they stood there looking at Him, they still had their leprosy. They still had their serious skin disease, but when they acted on Jesus’ words, they were healed. They were healed as they were on their way to the priests. Many of us miss the merciful blessings of God because we don’t respond to God in faith. We wallow in despair and unbelief. We respond to God saying, “Nothing’s gonna change. I’m always gonna be this way.” What can we learn from this part of the story?

RESPOND TO THE LORD IN FAITH—TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD.

I remember going through a serious period of doubt in my life—a time when I really wondered if I was a true believer. I felt so fearful of my eternal destiny. It seemed to be an insurmountable struggle in my mind. A wise preacher gave me a simple message that, at the time, was difficult to put into practice, but, as I did, the doubt and fear slowly left me and confidence in Christ arose in my heart. What was that simple message?

• Take God at His word.
• Believe what God has said.

It’s a difficult thing indeed to believe when doubt floods your soul. It’s not easy to rest in the midst of unrest. Feelings come and go, and we should not live based on feelings alone. We must root our feelings in what is true, and God’s word is what is true.

The climax of the story is when this double feature outcast—this Samaritan leper—returns to thank Jesus for healing. This man, along with the others, had responded to Jesus in faith and had been healed. When he noticed his healing, he didn’t run ahead to the priest and then book it to his house to hug his family. This outcast returned and loudly gave glory to God and fell facedown at Jesus’ feet and thanked Him. He was deeply thankful. He knew what this meant for him at least in the physical realm. Absent would become present. A distant wave would become a warm hug. A shout would become a soft word of love. He could return to his family. He could enjoy life as a productive member of society. This castaway had asked Jesus for mercy, and he’d received mercy. This led him to worship God, and he had to return to thank Jesus. What about you? Has worship become routine? Remember God’s mercy given to you through Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection. He did that because you were an outcast of God’s kingdom. You were a sinner separated from the goodness of God. If you’ve received God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace, then that’s all the reason you need for worshipping the Lord with a thankful heart every moment of every day.

ALLOW GOD’S MERCY TO LEAD YOU TO WORSHIP HIM WITH THANKSGIVING.

Jesus distinguishes this Samaritan’s response from the others. They all had responded to Jesus in faith and were healed physically, but only the Samaritan seems to experience something spiritual. The Samaritan went to Jesus to be healed physically, but it seems that he was healed spiritually as well. In verse 19, Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” Most translations gloss over this and merely relate it to a physical healing, saying that his faith had made him well. However, the Greek word is sozo which is most often translated as save. Jesus said that the man’s faith had saved him after he came back to thank Jesus and give glory to God. He was already well when he returned to Jesus. Yes, his faith in Jesus had saved him from living the rest of his life as an outcast, from never being able to hold his grandchildren, from never hugging his wife again, but that same faith in Jesus gave him a spiritual rebirth. Mind you, it all began with the Lord, but his faith response changed everything, not just physically and emotionally but spiritually as well. The man pled with Jesus for mercy over a deathly physical infirmity, but Jesus gave this double outcast a double dose of mercy and healed him physically and spiritually.

There’s only one lasting object in which to place our faith. Your salvation is not a result of some good work on your part. It’s simply trusting in the good work of Christ. Take the Lord at His word. Cry out to God for mercy in your desperate times and take Him at His word. Believe His word and be thankful. You can be like the nine, or you can be like the one Samaritan. Charles Allen in his book Prayer Changes Things wrote, “A hog will eat acorns under a tree day after day, never looking up to see where they came from.”² Let’s not be like that. Respond to the Lord’s mercy with thanksgiving and allow His mercy and grace to transform your heart into a grateful well of worship.

¹ Robert J. Morgan. Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes (electronic ed.), p. 212. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.

² Robert J. Morgan. Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes (electronic ed.), p. 73. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2000.

More about Biblical Leprosy

More about Joni Eareckson Tada 

More about the Samaritans

In part one, I began writing about how my life is like a pumpkin. I was just minding my own business, when God pierced my pumpkin life with the knife of the gospel. When He pierced me, He offered a wonderful opportunity for me to become His child and for Him to begin an amazing transformation on the inside which works itself out into my behavior as well.

Once God pierced through my hard heart with the knife of the gospel, I was confronted by the sickness within me, and I surrendered my life to His handiwork. The next thing God did was…

GOD PULLED OUT THE YUCK OF SIN AND DEATH AND GAVE ME LIFE.

Let’s take a look at a pumpkin. Do you see the scars and warts on the outer shell of the pumpkin? No pumpkin is perfect, and no person is perfect (except Jesus). We all have hang-ups. We all have sin. That sin distorts the image of God in us. In my life, I tried to color over those scars and warts, but there is something grosser on the inside.

Look inside a pumpkin. It’s filled with gross fibers and sliminess and seeds. If you want to make a nice carving in the pumpkin, that stuff has to go. Even if you could hide the warts and blemishes on the outside of the pumpkin, there is all that yuck on the inside. Similarly, we can try to hide the scars in our lives so that others can’t see, but God sees the yuck of sin on the inside. Paul from the New Testament wrote, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a CSB). All of us sin, so all of us deserve death. Paul also wrote, “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else” (Ephesians 2:1-3 NLT).

We were enemies of God and alienated from Him. Our minds were hostile toward Him, and that hostility was expressed by the evil things we did which were all contrary to God’s goodness and holiness (Colossians 1:21). We are all covered and infused with the yuck of sin. In fact, our hearts are hardened and darkened, and there is nothing you or I can do to fix ourselves. We are dead in sin. We are disobedient children under the wrath of God. We are lost sheep who need the way home. We are blind, deaf, dumb, and lame beggars who are hopeless without a hero.

BUT GOD…

…replaced my wretchedness with righteousness
...exchanged my sin for salvation
…traded my guilt for glory

…all because of Jesus.

I only gave you the first parts of the those verses above. Look again.

“For the wages of sin is death, BUT THE GIFT OF GOD IS ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD.” (Romans 6:23 CSB)

“Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins… BUT GOD IS SO RICH IN MERCY, AND HE LOVED US SO MUCH, THAT EVEN THOUGH WE WERE DEAD BECAUSE OF OUR SINS, HE GAVE US LIFE WHEN HE RAISED CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. (IT IS ONLY BY GOD’S GRACE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED!)” (Ephesians 2:1-5 NLT)

“Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. BUT NOW HE HAS RECONCILED YOU BY HIS PHYSICAL BODY THROUGH HIS DEATH, TO PRESSENT YOU HOLY, FAULTLESS, AND BLAMELESS BEFORE HIM.” (Colossians 1:21-22 CSB)

I love that.

But the gift of God.
But God is so rich in mercy.
But now He has reconciled you.

This is God piercing souls with the gospel and rescuing them from their own miry sin and destruction and giving them a new heart and placing their feet on the Rock. This is my pumpkin life, and all I have is gratitude for what He has done.

I have a friend back in Central Texas. He was gloriously saved one day. He'd been hooked on drugs for years since he was a teenager, but God pierced his pumpkin heart with the gospel. He surrendered his life to God’s control and has never been the same. He devoured the Bible. He couldn’t get enough of it. He was saved in a January and started reading the Bible and then finished by the end of March. He read when he got up in the morning, during his breaks at work, when he got home, and before going to bed. Before too long, he was leading a recovery ministry at our church. Last I heard from him, he was still leading a recovery meeting each week and working in a motorcycle outreach. God delivered him from the yuck of sin and death and gave him life. God also gave him something else.

GOD PUT HIS LIGHT INSIDE US TO SHINE TO THE WORLD.

If you’ve been saved, you’re a trophy of God’s grace. When you go through your life, you’re to shine the light that He placed inside you to show off His grace poured all over your life. When God saves, He places the light of His Spirit inside believers. Paul said, “He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 1:22 CSB). If you’re a true believer in Christ, then you have the Spirit of God within, and you're Jesus’ light in the world. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16 CSB). True Christians have a testimony to tell and a life to live for Christ.

Preacher Vance Havner once said, “We don't have a secret to be hidden but a story to be heralded.” Later, Joseph Alrich said, “God’s evangelistic strategy in a nutshell is this: He desires to build into you and me the beauty of His own character, and then put us on display.”*

Let that light shine, believers. Some of you, however, haven’t yet given up your life to Jesus. If you believe the good news of Jesus that He came and lived for you and died for you and came back to life on the third day, then stop resisting God and surrender your life to Him.

Consider these questions.

1. Have you ever surrendered your life to Jesus?
2. Is the light of Jesus shining brightly in your life?
3. Is the light of Christ being covered by something in your life?

If God has pierced your heart with the gospel and traded your slimy sin for salvation, why not tell someone today or this week about how He has rescued you.

*Robert J. Morgan. Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations, and Quotes (electronic ed.). Thomas Nelson Publishers: Nashville, 2000. p. 777).

In October, pumpkins take over the world. At least, it can feel that way with pumpkin-spice everything and decorative pumpkins all over the place. I’m not really into pumpkins, but one of my sisters makes a fabulous pumpkin roll. Possibly both of them make a great one, but you and they don’t know which one I’m talking about anyway. Maybe you’re more into decorating with pumpkins. Your house or office is decked out with real or fake pumpkins sitting on a table here and there. Or maybe you’re a carver, making sweet or ghoulish frights on the faces of your pumpkins. Whether it’s eating pumpkin pie or smearing on a pumpkin facial mask, pumpkins are a huge part of the fall seasonal culture in North America.

I was thinking about pumpkins a while back, and I realized that my life is a lot like a pumpkin. Maybe yours is, too. In this article and the next, I’ll share about my pumpkin life.

First, I was minding my own business when…

GOD PIERCED MY PUMPKIN LIFE WITH THE KNIFE OF THE GOSPEL.

A pumpkin's shell is made up of an outer skin, or rind, and the pulp. This thick shell gives the pumpkin its shape and protects the innards from harm. Carving a pumpkin begins by cutting through the tough shell of the pumpkin. No matter how hardened, God can pierce anyone’s heart with the gospel. Whether we want to admit it or not, God initiates salvation, and it begins and ends with Him. In God’s sovereignty, He’s given mankind the ability to choose to receive the salvation He offers or to reject it. We believe or reject belief. Still, salvation is all God’s doing. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast” (CSB).

Abraham believed God and was declared right with God, so it is with us. When we truly believe the gospel, we’re saved. Now understand that a real saving faith isn’t just some experience. Real saving faith, James tells us, is one that does something. It works out into your life. In other words, there are a lot of “in name only” Christians who won’t be spending time in heaven when their life is done. We’re saved by grace through faith, but a real living faith works. Repentance, or a change in thinking and living, is part of that living faith working in us.

You may be asking, “What is this gospel you’re talking about?” Gospel means “good news,” but it also has some bad news. The eternal God created an uncorrupted world, including two sinless people—Adam and Eve. Satan tempted them, and they fell into sin, marring humanity and creation with sin. Their children inherited a sinful nature and proved that they were sinners by their behavior. This sinful nature and bad behavior was passed down to every human born since the time of Adam and Eve. The bad news is that our sin separates us from God and must be dealt with. Ultimate separation from God happens at death when a person is separated for eternity from the grace of God in a place called hell. But God had a plan. Since the time of Adam, God had man use sacrifices as a way to turn their hearts back to Him. Eventually at just the right time, He provided a once and for all sacrifice for all time through the death of His Son Jesus on the cross. The Son of God came to this earth as a man in every way but in every way still God. This God Man lived the perfect live which you and I have failed so miserably to live. Then He died a cruel death on a shameful Roman cross as a substitute for you and me. We are the sinners and the failures, and yet Jesus died for us. Then He was buried in a borrowed tomb. His cold, dead body lay in that tomb where all of us deserve to be. However, on the third day, life coursed back into His body, and He came back to life in that tomb. Now He lives forevermore and wants to give new life to every sinner who will call upon His name in faith and repentance. That is the gospel. That is the good news.

Do you see that salvation doesn’t begin with us? God created us. God sent Christ to provide redemption. God preserved the gospel message for our modern world. Salvation begins with God. He initiates it. Some people have heard the gospel, but their minds are blinded to it. Yet in that darkness, God can plunge the knife of the gospel through the hard shell of the heart.

STEINBURG AND THE GYPSY GIRL

Chuck Swindoll tells the story of the Middle Ages painter by the name of Steinberg who was mesmerized by the beauty of a gypsy girl, and he would often make her his painting subject. During this time, he was working on what would become a masterpiece and has been dubbed “Christ on the Cross.”

The gypsy girl would watch him at work on this painting, and “one day she said to him, ‘He must have been a very wicked man to be nailed to a cross like that.’ ‘No,’ said the painter. ‘On the contrary, He was a very good man. The best man that ever lived. He died for others.’” The beautiful gypsy girl “looked up at him and asked, ‘Did He die for you?’ Now Steinberg wasn’t a Christian, but the gypsy girl’s question touched his heart and awakened his conscience, and he became a believer in Jesus.”*

God was able to use this unbelieving gypsy girl’s “Did He die for you?” question to pierce Steinberg’s heart with the gospel. It’s almost as if Steinberg had been painting that work of art on a knife—the gospel, and then God used that gospel to pierce Steinberg’s own pumpkin-like heart.

God is able to use whomever and whatever He wants to pierce us with the gospel. Think about it. Has God used something or someone in your life to provoke you to consider the gospel? Unbelieving Muslims in the Middle East have had dreams of a man who beckons them to follow Him. They sought answers and found that this Man was Jesus. God will make a way for someone who is open to the gospel. In my life, God used the Bible, my parents, my pastor, Sunday School teachers, and others to pierce my heart with the gospel. Eventually, on the last night of a revival, I gave up the fight and surrendered to His will.

Consider these questions.

1. Has the gospel pierced your heart?
2. Have you come to the place in your life where you’ve surrendered all that you are to Jesus?
3. If the Lord has already saved you, contemplate your need for the gospel even today?

Wherever you are in a relationship with Jesus, turn from your sin and pray for His mercy to flood into your “heart” to make it a fitting place for Him to rule your life.

I am so thankful that God had mercy on my soul by piercing my heart with the gospel.

*Charles Swindoll. Swindoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes. Thomas Nelson: Nashville, TN, 1998. p. 501.