I imagine every person as a stone. I imagine every worker for Christ as a nail. I imagine God as a hammer. I imagine every appeal God makes to a person as a hit to the stone. In my imagination, every person remains a stone until enough appeals have been made, breaking them down to finally accept Christ as their Savior. Some stones may break after 3 hits, and some may break after 400 hits, while others will forever remain a stone until the day they take their last breath. In order for God to make His appeal, He uses those who are willing to work along side of Him. As a Literature Evangelist, I am just a body that God is making His appeal through to His people. The most beautiful part of this illustration is that our God never stops making His appeal. I believe we have a God that continues to plea for our hearts until we take our very last breath.
I’ve been knocking on doors every summer for the past four years. Each summer I’ve met men counting down the days until their death from their long battle against cancer. I believe God used me each summer as one of the last appeals given to each of these men to accept Christ. Each story is heart wrenching.
I knocked on a man’s door who welcomed me and my partner with open arms and showed interested to know what we were selling. Taking the cookbook from the top of my stack of books, he commented how this book would be perfect for him. He went on to tell me about his health condition, “I have had cancer for several years and the doctor says I only have a couple years to live, so I need all the healthy recipes I can get. This cookbook would be perfect.” He then looked at it carefully and said, “But I don’t have 15 dollars. All I have is a 5 dollar bill.” I got excited and took The Desire of Ages out of my stack to show him while saying, “Well Sir, I actually can leave this book with you for only five dollars!” His face drastically changed when he saw the large picture of Christ on the front cover. I tried to read his reaction when I saw him take a deep breath and start shaking his head. He then said, “No, no, no. I don’t have anything to do with Christ. I don’t want to be a part of anything spiritual, I’m fine without it.” I stood in silence just finding words to say next, but before I could open my mouth he waved us goodbye and quickly shut the door.
My heart instantly sank, as there was nothing I could do but walk away quietly. I wasn’t sad because I didn’t make a sale, but because I knew this man was about to pass away, and maybe pass without ever accepting Jesus. Although from the outside it looked hopeless that this man would ever accept Christ, I realized God had just made an appeal to him through me. The good news is the man is still breathing. His time is not finished yet. Although his time is short, there is still time for him to choose Jesus. God will continually try to win us over until we breathe our very last breath. Now that is a God I am proud to serve.
