Growing up I was a pretty typical kid. I never got into a lot of trouble, or at least I never got caught, but after 20-plus years of living a life that wasn’t interested in God my life began to take the natural course of searching for “fun” wherever I could find it, which led to many different pursuits (some physically harmless and some far more dangerous).
One night, while in college, a girl I was working on a project with share something with me that led to me being forever changed. She had tears in her eyes as she explained that she had just came from the hospital visiting her grandfather. He was expected to die at any moment. She began telling me about her relationship with her grandfather and how it was her grandfather who told her who Jesus was. She looked at me and said, “I’m going to really miss my grandfather, but I am comforted in knowing where he’ll be when he dies. He’s going to heaven. And I know where I’m going to be when I die.” Then she asked the question that left me speechless, “Terry, do you know where you’re going when you die?”
I had tons of responses for religious people trying to "save" me, but all I could think about was the choices I had made in life. I realized that I wasn’t a good person and there was no way God was going to let someone like me go to heaven.
But then she shared with me some very good news. She told me how God created me with a purpose but because of something called sin I couldn’t know or experience that purpose. She said sin was all the things we do that God says is wrong. And then she shared pieces of things God said in the Bible that pointed that out. She told me that God, knowing I had done all these wrong things, sent His Son for me so that the punishment for everything I’ve done wrong would be paid for. She continued to explain that it wasn’t enough to just know these things, but you have to accept them by giving up my wants and desires and replace them with the wants and desire of Jesus, and then I could begin to see and live the purpose God has for my life, what He created me for.
That night I asked God for the strength to give up my hopes, desires, and wants and I asked Him to replace them with His. That night He became the boss of my life.
Now life hasn’t been a piece of cake since then. In all honesty becoming a Christ follower is exchanging one set of complications for another. But before I was a slave to whatever I thought would make me happy, while trying to cope with all the complications that come in life. I had begun to feel like there was this incredible weight on my shoulders, a burden that was becoming more and more difficult to bare.
When I gave control of my life over to Jesus, He became my master and things changed; some things changed quickly and some things took time. He’s still changing me today. The change that happened in my life is best explained by something Jesus said. He said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my way of life upon you. Let me teach you. For my way of life fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”
