The Free Gift of Salvation is Equally Amazing

     Many times, we will publicly hear someone share their story about how they gave their life to Jesus Christ as their Savior. The testimonies that often get our attention are the ones concerning someone who lived a horrible life of sin. By God’s grace and mercy, they were saved and their lives were radically changed. These testimonies remind us of the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21: 28-32. Jesus talks about the father who tells his two sons to go work in the vineyard. The first son says he won’t, “…. but later, he changed his mind and went” (vs. 29). The second son says, “’I will, lord’, but he did not go” (vs. 30).

     John goes on to explain the parable in the context of how people responded to John the Baptist’s teaching and authority. The first son in the parable represented the tax collectors and prostitutes and Jesus pointed the second son to the religious leaders who were trying to trap Jesus by His words. In other words, the tax collectors and prostitutes heard the message of repentance from John and they responded to his message by repenting of their sins. The religious leaders heard the same message, but did not repent. They did not see the need to turn from their sins. They believed they were living lives pleasing to God because they were obeying Him according to their own interpretation of the Law.

     Whereas it is amazing and encouraging to hear the testimony of a “tax collector” or a “prostitute” come to Christ, the testimony of anyone who comes to Christ is equally amazing. My own testimony is one where I tried to live as good a life as possible, by my own standards of righteousness. I was like the religious leaders in Jesus’s day, but by God’s grace and mercy, He drew me to Himself and I accepted Christ as my Savior. I was a self-righteous legalist, who lived a “clean” life, but God saved me from my own righteousness.

     My wife Melodee’s story is one where she came to Christ as a five-year-old. She grew up in a Christian home and was not old enough to be wild and crazy, yet God drew her to Himself. By His grace and mercy, she accepted Christ as her Savior. Hearing the Gospel message in a VBS program, Melodee was convicted of the sin in her own life and accepted the free gift of salvation, trusting Christ forgiveness of her sin. Melodee was one of those, whom Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 9: 14)

     What is the point of briefly sharing these two testimonies? Melodee and I were not “tax collectors” or “prostitutes”, yet as with every follower of Christ, God drew us to Himself.  Because we were dead in our sins (Eph. 2: 1), He made us alive and we were saved by the grace of God (Eph. 2: 8-9). The paths taken to get to the point of salvation are different for each one of us, but the outcome is the same:  “… the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6: 23). You may think your testimony is not spectacular because you were not delivered out of a wild lifestyle. Your testimony IS spectacular because of what God did in your life to bring you to Himself. Just think, many of us were like the second son in terms of our lifestyle, yet God pulled us out of that self-righteous life to be transformed into a child of God. Now, that is amazing!

David P. Staggers                                                                                               5/28/25