Stories Can Change You

I've discovered how deeply a single story can change your life. Barry Lopez once said, "If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive." Jesus knew this, often speaking in parables versus hardcore fact to convey a message. Somehow, those words went deep into the hearts of the people--so deep that they will never be forgotten.

I recently remembered how one scene in Pilgrim's Progress had the same impact on me. It wasn't even the whole story, but one part that somehow spoke a truth to my heart that began making me free. It was the part in the very first chapter, where Pilgrim is in a place of feeling the spirit of repentance and coming face to face with the filth of sin and humanity. He is broken. No one in his city understands. They think he is crazy--a mental case--unfit for life. But Pilgrim couldn't stop studying the Book. Finally, Evangelist came to town and Pilgrim came to him crying and said, "What shall I do to be saved?" He knew that he was condemned to die without salvation. that's when Evangelist began describing to him the Kingdom. He spoke words that changed Pilgrim's life: "Keep your eyes fixed upon that light, and go directly to it; then you will see teh Gate. When you knock on it, you will be told what to do." So Pilgrim started to RUN towards the direction Evangelist pointed him. Suddenly, his family saw him, and they screamed for him to return--to not venture into an unknown place. The neighbors did the same. It was him against the mass. Would he pursue truth, or stay in comfort?

Now comes my favorite part--the part that changed me.

"...but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying, 'Life! Life! Eternal life!" He would not look behind him but fled toward the middle of the plain."

Ha! LIFE! When the enemy tries to speak lies or bring temptation or discouragement, my fingers need to go into my ears as I run yelling, "Eternal life."

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Go after life! Go after purity! Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's gonna be worth it, for sure. Cause in His presence you get set free--from shame and guilt and fear. "Eternal life!"