Thoughts from the Well
God is good. All the time!
I have recently come out of one of
the most difficult times I have experienced in my life. I had a growth one
my right eye’s cornea called a "keratonous" that caused a distortion in my
viewing area. It gave me double vision that the Doctor said was in
correctable. They fitted me with a contact for that eye only but it caused
it’s own problems. Because of the growth it distorted my peripheral vision
and made driving that much worse. All that was left for me was to learn to
make due with the eye as it was knowing that one day I would probably need
to have a cornea transplant.
How often we take some things for
granted! Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23, "The eye is the lamp of the body. If
your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes
are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within
you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" I now understand the metaphor
that Jesus used in a whole new way. I was full of darkness. I couldn’t read
much at all. The distortion was too great.
We all have a choice in this life. We
can choose life or death. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slow in
keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Those who
are living apart from Christ are in total darkness.
Yet, God gives the world enough light
and knowledge of His existence that no one will be able to say to Him on the
day of judgment that they didn’t know what the right thing to do was. The
Apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16-22 that, "I am not ashamed of the gospel,
because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:
first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness
from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,
just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith." The wrath of God
is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of
men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known
about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since
the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and
divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been
made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they
neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking
became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed
to be wise, they became fools".
God has given the world enough
evidence of His existence to be convicted of His righteousness. But God
doesn’t want any to be lost! They choose that for themselves.
God is patient with us and wants all
to come to Him for life. God the Father sent Jesus the Son into the world to
die in our place. Jesus, knowing His time was short promised to give us the
Holy Spirit to help us make the right decision about who He really was and
show us that we can have a new life in Him. John 15:26 says, "When the
Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of
truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me."
When we trust in what Jesus did for
us we can have the assurance of eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 says, "And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God
does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."
After nearly three months of living
in darkness with my eye being distorted, God decided to heal me. I woke up
one day and the "keratonous" was gone. I waited for a week and then went to
see my eye Doctor to tell him what had happened. He immediately took me into
his room and examined my eye. He was shocked. He kept saying that it was
like looking at a new eye. I wasn’t complaining either! I was in darkness
but now I can see again. You can choose right now to accept Jesus as the
leader and forgiver of your life. Or, you can choose to remain in darkness
and be lost for eternity. The ball is in your court. Choose Jesus and live!
In Him,
Bill Fritz
Click below for
a list of other
Thoughts from the Well