The City of Lights

As an airplane was on its way to Paris, a report came in about heavy fog in
"the City of Lights." The fog was so severe that landing the plane in Paris
was completely out of the question. So, the aircraft was diverted to another
city about 190 miles away where the passengers were to be carried home by
charter busses. Now, most passengers would be upset by the delay but would
probably understand the situation. At least the company was professional
enough to offer the people a nice bus ride to their destination.

However, when the plane finally landed, over 20 passengers refused to get
off the plane and demanded that they be taken to Paris by air. The flight
attendants were going to remain on the aircraft but the passengers became so
troublesome that even the attendants left. To try to get the people out of
the plane, bathrooms were locked, the power was turned off, and the people
were left in the dark. The disgruntled people staged this protest for four
hours, which was probably longer than the bus ride would have been. After
their prolonged protest, the people still ended up leaving the plane, walked
onto a bus, and headed home to Paris -- a place they could have been at
hours ago had they not been so completely and utterly stubborn. *

Our stubbornness often leads to personal misery and causes us to miss out on
some good things - even the greatest things - in life. The greatest loss
that we experience comes when our stubbornness keeps us from surrendering
our lives to God's will.

"The Lord is not SLOW in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.
He is PATIENT with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come
to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God "desires ALL men to be saved and to come
to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

It is God's Will that each and every one of us live eternally with Him. He
has even provided the WAY to eternal life through His Son, Jesus (John
14:6). When our sins and stubborn wills condemned us to destruction (see
Matthew 7:13-14), God sent His Son to die on the cross to pay the price for
our redemption (Ephesians 1:7) and open up the Way to eternal life (Hebrews
10:19-20).

But WE have a choice in the matter. We must relinquish our stubborn wills
and submit to His plan. In order to be saved and have eternal life, we must
place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sin and
stubbornness in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans
10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our
sins (Acts 2:38). Then, we must continue to "walk in the light" of His
revealed Will in the Scriptures. As we do so, the blood of Jesus continues
to cleanse us from sin (1 John 1:7).

Our stubborn wills bring us nothing but distress and destruction! But if we
yield our wills to God's will, we can experience the abundant life now and
eternal life to come.

Let's STOP being so stubborn and yield our wills to God's will, so that we
might know and follow the Way to Heaven.

Won't YOU?

David A. Sargent