Meet Joshua.
He has a story worth reading, and it might relate to your own.
We met him while telling people about Jesus. A practicing Buddhist; he had a lot of doubt and was quick to argue that God wasn’t real.
He was also 27, homeless, owned one set of clothes, and had no family.
But the one thing that he had going for him was his eagerness to argue with some white folk about Jesus. He questioned our beliefs and explained how he didn’t believe in Gods existence or goodness.
Not only did Joshua find himself arguing with women (never a good idea) but some Truth-speaking, Holy-Spirit-empowered-kinda-women. Amidst a debate over disbelief, on Monday May 22nd, Joshua encountered God for himself.
No words spoken by man could hold enough power to evoke the response that we witnessed.
A man consumed by God’s love in the blink of an eye.
It’s an image I’ll never forget. Beautiful. Full of tears and raw emotion. Joshua fell to his knees mid-argument. His friends mocked him but he didn’t care. Sobbing, vulnerable, and overwhelmed with grace he accepted Jesus with an open heart.
Joshua lost the battle that day, but ultimately he won the war.
The story doesn’t end there… often it does.
But it shouldn’t.
Some people stop at believing in God, while others choose to surrender their lives and walk with Jesus daily.
Joshua did the ladder of the two (and I hope you have as well)
He is a different person now.
He reads the Bible twice a day, attends church every chance he gets, and has a small community group of fellow believers . Joy radiates from him. He shines a light brighter than anyone I’ve met. He never stops smiling, and people know that his life is changed.
Surrendering everything to God is when we truly experience His love and grace. Joshua’s experience has been nothing short of that.
We gave him a Gideon’s bible before leaving and returned the next day to find out that the first verse that he ever read in the Bible was…John 3:16
Only God.
Joshua even walked away from his job one day to go evangelize with us.
He wants to become a Pastor now so that he can share with others just how good God’s love is.
Guys.
When you surrender your life and experience Jesus, it is just that good.
My question for you is: Do you know Jesus, or are you choosing to follow Him daily?
Don’t settle for knowing Jesus.
I knew Jesus for 21 years without surrendering my life to him. I had a bible, knew the stories, and attended Church. But when you choose to follow Jesus every day your life changes. Your friends know that you are a different person.
Maybe you are hiding behind some doubt like Joshua was, like I did, and that can keep you from surrendering it all or experiencing Jesus.
Doubt is normal and it is a mark of humanity. Eve and Adam doubted God’s goodness in the garden, and it led to the fall of humanity (Gen 3).
But doubt feeds sin, and sin distances us from our Savior.
Find a fellow Christian today and ask hard questions, or even better, confront God with them. (Feel free to email at [email protected] if you have any questions. I won’t have all of the right answers, but I promise to search for them with you.) If you don’t, you are subject to experiencing spiritual death and being stripped of the best life that God has in store for you.
When you ask those questions, doubt cannot hold you anymore.
Choose today to surrender your life – and flee from sin (we all have it. I know do, and I bet you know what yours is) – and follow Christ daily. Then, you will walk in His grace and love fully.
I cannot guarantee that God will give you what you want, but I can guarantee that He will meet your needs and you life will look different – full of a newfound joy that radiates from within. Joshua is living proof of that.
