IN CHRIST IS LIFE
CHRIST & YOU & POWER
T he Bible says this of Jesus Christ: “ But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” This business of power is a fairly important thing. I had a chance to observe just how im portant it is while driving across Arizona re cently. I had been on a camping trip on the desert south of Gila Bend along the Mexican border. On the way back I swung through the Papago Indian Reservation and at Covered Wells stopped to chat with Felix Ramon who used to run the trading post there. Felix is a delightful person and often his soft guitar play ing adds enchantment to the desert evening. From there I drove through Tucson, Phoenix, Wickenburg and home to Hollywood. Just west of Wickenburg, U.S. 60 is narrow and winds across rolling hills. I had pulled out into the oncoming lane to pass a car and a truck. For added power I floored the accelerator to get out of the overdrive gear. And as I did the engine on my little ’49 Studebaker stopped. Nothing like this had ever happened in all of the more than 98,000 miles I’d driven this car. It was a frightening experience. Going uphill, in the oncoming traffic lane, with a huge truck and a car blocking your lane — and a dead engine. And traffic has a way of moving rather fast on the desert. The woman driving the car I was attempting to pass saw my predicament and dropped back, permitting me to coast in between her and the truck. I soon found the trouble. The distributor cap had come off and the little 60c rotor dropped out. A dead, power less engine had nearly caused a bad accident and had left me stranded in the desert. And I stayed stranded until I caught a ride back to Wickenburg where I was able to buy the part.
Spiritually our lives are powerless apart from Jesus Christ. Deep within us our soul is strand ed in a wind-swept and lonely desert. W e find ourselves powerless to discover and travel that narrow path that leads to God. But then we are confronted with these simple words with their message of eternal power. “ But as many as re ceived him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” Here is the solution for man’s universal pre dicament. Man alienated from God, lost in the dark slavery of sin is given power from a source outside himself to come to God. This is Chris tianity! Only in Judaism and Christianity does God seek man. All other religions represent man searching for God. This is a wonderful truth. Our seeking and searching is ended. Jesus Christ said, “ I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Through Jesus Christ and through Him only can we have power to come to God. This means we cannot become a Christian by doing good. This means we cannot become a Christian by going to church. W e become Christians by receiving Jesus Christ, that is by believing that He is God and that He died for the sins of the world. When we receive these facts by faith then Jesus Christ gives us power to become the sons of God. Of course you can’t understand it! But you’ve tried other things that haven’t worked and now you’re willing to re ceive Jesus Christ and the power He alone can impart to your struggling, seeking soul. By coming to Him now you are making .that time less transaction of the soul that millions have made before you. And each who has made it has received power to become the son of God. —L.H.
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