worth Every Step

I was listening to "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan today. You can download it on MP3 at ChristianAudio for free this month. Each month they offer a free audio book download. They are usually old, dry, and boring, but they're classics. You won't find any free books on 7 steps to finding your purpose or how to have your best life now, but you will find spiritual truth and if you take time to listen, the Holy Spirit will plant those truths deep in your heart.

The Lord has spoken to me before about passages in "Pilgrim's Progress" and maybe I'll share those another time, but today I was struck by the intensity of this one passage in the opening chapter. After reading the book he had found, Christian was so overcome with grief and despair that he could no longer continue living as he had before. I pray that each of us, through the reading of the Word, would be so aware of our desperate need for God that everyday we would be moved to the point where we can not longer continue as we are, but we would whole heartedly yield our lives as a living sacrifice to God. Christian made a decision to leave his home, his family, and his city, and he was determined to find an answer to what was stirring in his heart. He was resolved that nothing would deter him and no one would hinder him from what lay ahead.

"So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life! life! eternal life! So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain" (Pilgrim's Progress - Part 1, The First Stage)

I want that same kind of determination in my life. I want to encourage you to be resolved to diligently seek the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn to the left or the right, but fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He will not disappoint us. He will never leave or forsake us. Though the way be difficult and the gate narrow, it's worth every step of the journey.

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