POINT OF DECISION

The drawing is a self-portrait. I stare out from a window of imprisonment, which represents my captivity to sin and judgment. The line dividing the blue field from the brown symbolizes the barrier that my sin had created, separating me from God. The corner of the window clinging to the heavens represents the false security I had as an unbeliever. I thought I would enter heaven on the basis of sincerity, generally good behavior or that God -- if he truly existed -- would simply accept us all, no matter what our beliefs. The sand represents the godless foundation I had built my life upon, which is causing my collapse. When we do not stand on God's foundation, we fall into His judgment.

The rope represents the act of God's grace. He sends it down seeking to save rebellious man by offering a way of returning to Him and escaping judgment. The rope is three cords forming one: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. It descends within my grasp as a sure promise of deliverance.

The person who regards the rope as death shuns it, and in effect puts the rope around his own neck and hangs himself. The one who regards the rope as life takes hold of it and lives. By taking hold, he is bound to it: where it goes, he must follow. The person who wants his freedom will resist the rope and go his own way, only to fall into destruction.

All along the way, God's grace extends to us, no matter how deep we sink. But an end will come to the time we have. Will I break out of the glass and desperately flee from my old life of sin to take firm hold of the new life God offers me? Will I believe God at His word and trust in His sufficiency to save me, though I do not see with my physical eyes the other end of the rope? Will I put off my decision only to draw nearer to destruction? "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" (He 2:3). It is at this crucial moment that I have entitled the piece, "Point of Decision."