The Man Who Cried, "What Shall I Do?"

“What must I do to be saved?” — from Acts 16

In a place called the City of Destruction, there lived a man named Christian. One day he was reading a book, and what he read frightened him terribly. He learned that his city was going to be destroyed — and worst of all, he could feel a great, heavy burden on his back that he could not get off, no matter how he tried.

He began to cry out, “What shall I do? What must I do to be saved?” His family thought he had gone mad. But Christian could not stop worrying about that heavy load.

Then a man named Evangelist came to him and asked why he was crying. Christian told him about the burden and his fear. Evangelist pointed far across a wide field and asked, “Do you see that little gate?” Christian couldn’t see it. “Do you see that shining light?” said Evangelist. “Yes, I think I do,” said Christian. “Keep that light in your eye, and go straight to it.”

So Christian began to run — run for the little gate and the shining light — with his fingers in his ears so nothing could stop him, calling out, “Life! Life! Eternal life!”

That is where every great journey with God begins: seeing that something is wrong, and running toward the light. If you feel a weight of doing wrong, you don’t have to carry it alone. There is a light to run to. His name is Jesus.

Dear God, when I feel the weight of the wrong I’ve done, help me run to you, the true Light. Amen.