Street Meeting Twenty First

Having concluded the children’s study and the exposition of the word that morning, we gathered once more in the afternoon at our accustomed place. We arrived to find the park nearly barren, save for a few weary souls lingering within the kiosk—some were sleeping, others doing this and that, but all merely passing the hours of this bright afternoon. Feeling no desire to dally further nor delay my Master’s business, I walked directly to my appointed station and stood. I had intended to set forth the truths of Luke nineteen, the very text we had searched earlier that day; yet, as I opened my mouth, the Spirit redirected the direction of the discourse. What I intended to deliver as a formal instruction of the mind was soon transformed into a plea for the soul.

Among those listening was a man who had backslidden and drifted from the Lord; he had come to the park merely to meet with friends to go on a trip, never expecting that he would instead be met by conviction from the Almighty. He sought a pleasant diversion, but he found a divine confrontation. It was a sobering reminder that while man may plan his path to avoid the gaze of God, the Lord often chooses the most public of squares to reclaim a wandering soul.

There also was a young lady who had returned to the park for no other reason than to search for her lost earphones; yet, in the Father's providence, she found a preacher instead. Being a sincere believer, she chose to remain, seeking nourishment for her soul that had grown famished in her own neglect. The demands of a busy schedule had slowly choked out her devotions, leaving her a stranger to the secret place of prayer and the refreshing waters of the Scriptures.

When we placed a Bible in her hands, she confessed that she had been petitioning the Lord for some weeks, pleading for a Bible in Tagalog. We stood in holy awe of the Lord, considering how He had orchestrated our very presence to answer her quiet prayer. It was a profound testimony that while she sought an insignificant worldly possession, the Father was intent upon restoring her eternal inheritance.

The children also enjoyed many fruitful interactions that day, as the thick stash of tracts we had brought was entirely exhausted, along with several Bibles. While a few souls left in haste once their secret sins were directly confronted, the greater part of those who began with us remained until the message ended. It was a striking display of the two-fold nature of the Word. 

Ever it is, the way of the Gospel to act as a divider of men; to those who cherish their darkness, the light is a source of torment to flee from, but to those being drawn by the Father, the very truth that exposes their wound becomes the only balm they desire to seek. I watched as some left, leaving behind a remnant whose hearts seemed arrested by a sudden gravity.

I poured out my soul before them and offered them Christ, for I felt a holy and desperate need to declare the beauty and the goodness of God. I spoke of those mercies which He so bountifully bestows upon the contrite heart—mercies ever ready for any who will but bow in humility to ask for them.

Yet, I could not hide the terrible folly of those who would maintain a rebellion against the very Sovereign who holds their breath and their being in His hands. I set before them the foolishness of a life lived in defiance of its Creator, leading at last to that glorious truth: the salvation found only in the finished work of Christ on the cross. It was my heart's desire to boast not in the beauty of dead religion, but in the sufficiency of the living Savior, urging every soul to consider that while the world offers a thousand distractions, the cross offers the only true reconciliation.

Tell me if you find fault with this, "God is offering you eternal life through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Anyone who puts their trust in Christ will never be ashamed." If you find it to be true, why will you not believe?

The Almighty offers us the gift of eternal life, a treasure purchased not with silver or gold, but through the precious blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is a promise written in heaven that whosoever shall cast the full weight of their soul upon Christ—abandoning all confidence in their ability to save themselves—shall never, in this world or the next, be put to shame. If, then, we confess this to be the very truth of God, what remains within us that withholds our heart? Why do we yet linger in the shadow of unbelief? Is it that we prefer the fleeting pleasures of a dying world to the enduring glories of a living Savior? To acknowledge the truth with the mind while refusing to surrender the life is but a more sophisticated form of rebellion. Let not the vanity of our own efforts be the anchor that sinks us, when the lifeline of His mercy is extended through Christ, even now.