Your Own Story

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” — Romans 6:23 (KJV)

Moody had a word of advice for people who wanted to come to God but were stuck: don’t wait for someone else’s experience.

He says some people wait for exactly the same thing to happen to them as happened to their grandparents. He had a friend who was converted in a field, “and he thinks the whole town ought to go down into that meadow and be converted.” Another was converted under a bridge, and thought anyone else should go there too.

God doesn’t work like that. Your story doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s. The best thing to do, Moody says, is to go straight to the Bible. If you say, “I have no strength,” the Bible says that Christ died for us “when we were yet without strength”. If you say, “I can’t see,” Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”

Moody also talks about how long it takes to become a Christian. Romans 6:23 calls eternal life “the gift of God”. Moody asks: “How long does it take to accept a gift?” There is a moment when it isn’t yours, and the next moment it is.

At the same time, he says, some people come to God so gradually that, “like the morning light, it is impossible to tell when the dawn began.” Others come suddenly, like a flash of light. Moody says: “I would not go across the street to prove when I was converted; but what is important is for me to know that I really have been.”

This is very freeing, especially if you grew up in a Christian family and can’t remember a moment when you “became” a Christian. That’s fine. What matters is not whether you can name the day, but whether you trust Jesus now.

Moody gives a fun example of a sudden conversion: Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus. Jesus told him to come down, and Moody says, “His conversion must have taken place somewhere between the branch and the ground.” Zacchaeus came down a changed man.

Moody compares the gospel to medicine. If a trusted friend had been cured of a deadly disease and offered you the same medicine for free, you would be foolish not to take it. Jesus offers new life as a gift. You don’t need to understand everything, or have the same story as anyone else. You just need to take it.

One thing to do this week: if you are a Christian, write down your story in a few sentences, however ordinary it seems. If you are not sure, read Romans 6:23 and ask yourself: “Have I received this gift?” If not, you can receive it today by telling God you want to trust Jesus.