There were two friends, one a Christian and the other an atheist. They would have friendly, lively discussions about God and a Christian relationship with Him. The atheist was beginning to realize that his position requires more faith than his friend’s. One night he had a dream. In his dream there were two big fields. The one on the left was filled with Satan and his demons, while the one on the right was filled with Jesus and his angels. There was a tall fence between them and he found himself sitting on top of that fence. Satan came over and said, “You know you have to make a decision. Are you going to follow me or not?” He replied that he was perfectly comfortable sitting on the fence. Then Satan replied with a smile, “Don’t you realize? I own the fence!”
There is no neutral zone between God and Satan. There is no “undecided” vote. You must choose one and you must choose wisely because it is with the one you choose that you will spend eternity. If you choose to become a child of the Living God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you will enter and continue in God’s presence here and forever in heaven – if you reject God’s gift of salvation, you will stay in Satan’s presence here and forever in the hell prepared for him and his followers. Putting off the decision keeps you in Satan territory.
What can we, as Christians, do to help someone get off of Satan’s fence? There is nothing I can say that is more powerful than my personal testimony of what my decision to follow Jesus has meant in my life. There is no action I can take that is more powerful than letting the light of God’s love shine through me. But in the end, it will be their response to the tug of the Holy Spirit that will determine their decision; just as it was for you and for me. I often refer to Jesus as my “personal Savior”. That is because my decision and my relationship with Him are very personal, as it is with every Christian. Just as a friend introduced me to my future wife, we introduce the unsaved to Jesus, but what happens next is personal just between them.
I have always been intrigued by personal testimonies of how people came to faith in Jesus Christ and the transformation that occurred in their life. There is power in each and every story, but the more dramatic the change in their life, the more powerful it is. The greatest example of dramatic transformation is found in the account of Saul of Tarsus’ encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:1-19) He went from a persecutor of Christians to a planter of Christian churches – from Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul. God may not have blinded me like him, but He did drive me to my knees and forever change me. As the worship song states, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back! No turning back!”