Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Announcer: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. This week is a spiritual milestone. It's the anniversary of Joni opening her heart to Jesus and asking him to be her Lord and Savior many decades ago. And here she is to tell the story.

Joni Eareckson Tada: I had heard about Jesus all my life. I mean, I grew up singing Christian hymns with my family. We talked about Jesus all the time. I regularly attended church, but it wasn't until a chilly November day during a church weekend retreat when the Spirit finally opened my eyes wide, and I remember it so well, sitting on the hard floor of a camp meeting hall, listening to the speaker talk about the gospel. But strange thing, he had this Bible open to the Old Testament. I thought that was odd. I mean, isn't the gospel in the New Testament? But the speaker proceeded. He asked us kids to measure our lives up against the Ten Commandments as he read them aloud.

Okay, I thought, I can pass this test with flying colors. So he began reading. Let's start with, he said, thou shalt not steal. Okay, I'm sitting there and I couldn't think of the last time I actually stole something, but I knew I was guilty of stealing answers off of a friend's biology exam. For that matter, I seem to constantly be stealing the spotlight from others. Then the speaker went on. Okay, how about thou shalt not lie? Yikes, the Bible nailed me with that one, because I knew I had a tendency to fudge the truth and over-exaggerate. I never would have admitted that it was lying because everybody did it, but that did not excuse me.

The speaker continued. Okay, how about this? Thou shalt not commit adultery. I thought I passed that one, but then he went on to explain that Jesus said, whoever lusts after someone in his heart has inasmuch done the deed. Whoa, did he have me on that one. But I was really challenged by the next command. He said, kids, measure yourself up against this one. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Oh man, there was no way I could pass that one. I idolized Coke. I could not go a day without having a Coke, or two of them, or three. I idolized sports, being named captain of our volleyball and lacrosse teams.

It meant everything to me. It occurred to me sitting there that we all have our American idols, whether it's a hobby, a boy or girlfriend, or even what we see in the mirror. By the time the speaker was done, there I was sitting there on the camp meeting floor, a lying, stealing, adulterous idolater. You think that's an overexaggeration? Well, you might think so, but Jesus said, you break one law, you've broken them all. His point, God is holy and you are not. Boy, did that bug me. Why in the world would God give us a bunch of commandments that he knows very well we can't keep? But then, bing, a light bulb went off.

Failing God's righteous standard showed me how much I needed rescuing. And so I began to see that's why God sent Jesus. Jesus kept the Ten Commandments. He lived the perfect life, even though he knew I couldn't and wouldn't, because I'm a sinner. I should have been the one on that cross, but Jesus took the rap for me. And if I would but accept his death on the cross as a substitute for my own death, in other words, if I would but embrace him as my savior, my rescuer, God would have no more anger left for me, a sinner, only forgiveness, only mercy.

Announcer: Joni wasted no time in accepting Christ's amazing gift, and we want to encourage you to do the same if you have not already embraced Jesus as your savior. Just go to our website at joniandfriends.org and click on the tab that says, do you know Jesus? It's under resources.