If you have ever watched this movie (and if you haven't why on earth NOT??), you know that the main character, George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart gets stuck running the family business when all he ever really wanted to do was see the world. Then through the clumsiness of his bumbling Uncle Billy they lose a huge amount of money and George's world falls apart. In a moment of panic and depression over his state of affairs, he wishes he'd never been born. Now just preceding this event, an angel had come down to help poor George out of his predicament. When he hears George utter these words, he decides this will be the way to show George that life IS worth living. So with the OK from above, he grants George's wish. He gets to see what life would have been like without him. He had no idea the good he had done in his life, the lives he had touched, the blessing he had been to so many people in the small town of Bedford Falls.
Yesterday I was listening to the radio...to K-Love to be specific....while I was preparing dinner for our family. I heard a song that I had heard before but for the first time really HEARD the words. One line of that song really got me to thinking. It said :
One of these days I'm gonna see
Just what became of me
On the day that I believed
When you took myself from me
And I believe I'm gonna see
What I would've been
If you hadn't saved me
----FFH One of These Days
Have you ever thought what life would have been like if Jesus had NOT saved you? I can't say I ever have. Not really.
I came to Christ at the age of 10, accepting and believing from a child's perspective the Gospel that I had been presented. As I got older and was exposed to more and more truth, I came to know Christ on a much deeper level. And I can say today He is more real to me, more personal to me, than ever before. He truly does grow sweeter every day.
So as I look back over my life and think about what it would have been like if I had NOT accepted Him, it is really a frightening thought. If I had lived my life apart from Him, EVERYTHING in my life would have been different.
My teenage years would have been different because I would not have been in church. My values would have been different and therefore, I'm sure that I would have participated in a lot of things that I did NOT participate in because I was a Christian and that was important to me. I would have run with a different crowd. I would have gone different places.
I doubt if I would have married the man I married. We would have been running in different circles. In college I would have probably "played the field" and done whatever it took to be accepted and popular by their standards. I would have had no internal "policeman" to keep me on the right track, no moral compass to chart my course by.
My marriage would have been different because there would have been no "third cord" to bind us together. Our home would not have been built on the Word and we would not have been as committed as we have been for 37 years. It would have been easy to bail out when things did not go well.
I have no idea what we would have done with our time. Because church has always played such a huge part in our lives, our lives revolved around it. It was not only the place where we worshipped, but it was our social circle. I did not belong to a country club, I belonged to church. The friends I had were from church. They are still my friends today and our bond is forged in Jesus Christ. Our husbands played ball on the church ball team. Our children grew up in the nursery, sang in the church choir, competed in Bible sword drill, and went to youth camp together in the summer. Not only did OUR lives revolve around church, but so did theirs.
And, just as I came to Christ as a child, so did they. Our son accepted Christ at the age of 7, our daughter at the age of 10. How thankful I am for that for without Him how different their lives, too, would have been!
My goal in life has never been to be rich or famous or to climb the corporate ladder. My one desire in life has been to please my Savior, the One who died for me. He changed my life and I owe Him everything. Not that I have ever totally attained that goal, but I am still pressing on in pursuit of it and with the added desire to point others toward Him.
Being a Christian changed my life. It changed who I became, where I went, who I spent life with and what my priorities were. It permeates everything I do and everything I am.
I quit a job once because of a change in ownership. The new owner chose to invest his profits (which I helped to generate) in the abortion industry and I could not be a part of that. One of my business associates told me that I should keep my "religion" out of my business. I had to explain to her that I did not have a "religion", I had a relationship and that relationship encompassed every area of my life. I could not disassociate it from my job.
Yes, if we get to see what our life would have been like without Jesus, it will be interesting to see. But I know without a doubt that I will never regret my decision to follow Him.
What about you? Have you experienced the wonderful life of knowing Jesus Christ? Well, the great thing is, it's never too late to make that decision. No matter where your path has taken you, no matter what you've done, He still stands with outstretched arms to invite you into a relationship with Him.
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