Today, I want to share a story that is on my heart:
The room was filled to the brim with teens of every color,
shape and size, about 300 in attendance.
A man, dressed in dark blue jeans with a hole on the knee stood up in
front of the crowd. He was a tall man,
slender, tan skin with thinning blond hair and piercing green eyes. He reached into his flannel shirt pocket and
pulled out a shiny metallic pen.
“I want to tell you about my pen,” he began. “This is an amazing pen, it can write in
three different colors. It writes
smoothly and the ink flows well, even if you aren’t holding it up and
down. This pen is the pen astronauts’
use. Do you want this pen? It is a really great pen, and you can have
it”. No one in the crowded room
rose. They had been told to sit still
and listen when someone was in front of you, not to approach them. What would people think if they were to get
up and move towards the stage to accept such a neat pen?
“No really,” he said, “it is yours, all you have to do is to
take it, it is a really expensive pen, it sells for around $50. Who wants it?”
Everyone looked around.
Some teens were attempting to build up the courage to go up and take the
shiny pen; others were just sitting there.
Who was going to get it? Who was
going to get up the nerve and defy what they had been taught and go up front
and get the pen? Who was going to take
a chance?
The man’s eyes looked around the room. He attempted to make eye contact with some
of the teens and they turned their heads away.
Even teens from this man’s group wouldn’t go up and take the pen. The tall man sighed heavily and put the pen
back into his pocket.
“So, am I to assume that out of all of you, no one wants
this pen?”
Still no one rose.
“This was a gift to you, from me, but the only way it would
become yours is if you were to accept it.
A gift is an amazing thing to give, but it isn’t truly yours until you
accept it. Each and everyone of you had
the option of coming up and taking this gift that I had, but now no one has it,
it still belongs to me, because no one accepted the gift.
“I know that you have all heard the story of the man Jesus
Christ. Many of you have grown up in
the church and have heard about how much Jesus loves you since you were
little. Many of you know all the verses
and sing all the songs, and that is awesome!
It is important to know those verses and sing the songs.
“But, Jesus gave us a gift.
We were separated from God because man sinned. We have all sinned. And
Jesus came to earth to die on the cross for those sins. Jesus was sent to earth to live a perfect
life and then die on the cross for our sins so that we could be with God
again. Jesus was sent as a sacrifice
for us. He was sent to save you, and he
was sent to save me. He is standing,
knocking at the door of your heart offering you a great gift. He is offering you a way back to being
connected with God; he is offering you the gift of eternal life.
“The Bible says in Revelation 3:20 ‘Here I am! I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with him, and he with me.’ It says in Romans 3:23 ‘for all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God’. In
John 14:6 Jesus says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.’
Don’t you see, Jesus is offering us this amazing gift! We could sit in our seats, comfortable and
not take this gift like none of you stood to take the amazing pen, or you could
stand up, and accept this gift that Jesus is offering to you. You can accept it, it might be
uncomfortable, it might mean that you have to change your life a little, but it
is an awesome gift He is offering. Does
anyone want to accept that gift today?
Does anyone want to open their heart’s door and let Jesus in?”
As the man paused, a young lady in the audience, who had
really wanted the pen but didn’t have the nerve to stand up and take it, raised
her hand ever so slightly. Her eyes
looked around, she lowered it just a little.
The man continued, “it is okay, don’t look around, don’t let
anyone else make this decision for you.
Don’t let anything stop you from getting something that you have seen
for years, but have never accepted. You
see your friends have it, but you don’t have it. You have seen and heard about this in church, but until you
accept it, it is not yours.”
The girl hesitated again.
She didn’t want to be the only one to step up and have the spot light on
her, but she also knew that she needed to accept this gift. She swallowed hard looked at the girl next
to her who gave her a reassuring wink and the shy, young girl stood up. Forget raising her hand, if she was going to
do it, she was going to do it fully.
Seeing the young girl stand, the man stopped talking. He smiled at her, motioned for her to come
up. A second girl then stood and walked
forward, followed by a young boy, and then a youth leader. Suddenly the room was full of teens
standing, moving forward, and accepting the gift that Jesus is offering.
Crouching down to the young girl, the man said, “young lady,
it looks like you just started a revival, I have a feeling God has great things
in store for you.”
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