cardboard testimonies

I just received an email for a link to a YouTube video....

Ironically, a video that had a very similar message to one that I watched last night while searching for possible studies for our community life group.

I wanted to share this with you....

A reminder that no matter WHAT you are carrying, no matter what your baggage is, no matter how heavy it is....why do you keep on carrying it?

What if someone came to you and said...

"give me your bag"

You know, that BIG black trash bag that you carry with you every single moment of every single day. That bag that you won't even open and look into...because it's just too hard. That bag that causes your back to hurt, your shoulders to ache, your body to be weak.

What if a friend said, "just give it to me, I'll carry it for you"

Maybe you've carried it for just a few days, maybe you've carried it for 25 years. You just can't seem to find a place to just get rid of it.

What if a friend was willing to get rid of it for you...forever.

HE will.

He's waiting for you to give it to him. You just have to hand it over. Don't leave any behind...just hand it ALL over. Give your entire MESS to him.

And tomorrow, when life brings you another mess...don't just stick it in a little grocery sack, now that you've gotten rid of your big black trash bag...don't carry it for even an hour. Continue to give your messes to the one and only friend that can truly carry them, get rid of them and turn our big messes into something beautiful.

I hope these cardboard testimonies are a reminder to you, as they were to me, how much we are loved by our Savior.

What would be your cardboard testimony?

I had a friend recently comment that it's so much easier for "good" people to come to God, because they are so pure already. It just fits them better. If they grew up with it, they understand it and need it.

But what about this verse from Matthew (9:12):

Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.... I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

The thing that seperates those who have Christ in their hearts and those who haven't fully (or at all) accepted Him, is that one set of people no longer carry their own trash...the others still do.

Isn't it refreshing to know that the children of God all come together with one thing in common.....we WERE all a mess.

But not anymore.