Before you begin reading this week, be sure to go back and read Part 1 and Part 2. This is Part 3 of a four - part series about a girl named Lyda. Let the story continue…
THE REASON
Lyda’s quick walking slowed to a more relaxed pace. She knew she needed to hurry home, but she was conflicted. It made her mind swim and her feet feel heavy. That car ride…she should have never let Him ride home with her that day. He knew too much. His reason was clear. His argument convincing. She just wasn’t sure. Her heavy feet continued to lead her home, but her mind was a world away.
“I’m dying?” She almost started laughing in His face. “Well that is news to me,” Lyda shot back.
He was quiet for a moment; Lyda began to regret her outburst.
“It’s OK,” He replied. “Most people react that way. They just can’t believe that anything could possibly be wrong. Life is easy, for the most part, so what is there to think about? What is there to question?”
They drove by a park and He gently asked Lyda to pull over. The warm, fresh air was soothing. He led her to a park bench and they sat down.
He continued, “Lyda, you ARE dying. Look around you, everyone is slowly dying. Old age happens, disease comes to some and sickness to others. You need me to save you.”
“What are you saying?” Lyda asked. “That you hold some magic key for eternal life, some fountain of youth?” Lyda noticed that people around her were looking at her strangely. And then she remembered.
“You know, nobody…”
“…can see me but you,” she finished for Him. “Yah, yah…let them think I am a crazy girl talking to herself.” She smiled at Him.
“I guess I just don’t completely understand why you are here,” she said. “I don’t deny what you are saying. I get it, everybody is going to die…eventually. But don’t you believe in Heaven? I mean, I am a good person, I try really hard, I help others. I’m certainly not as bad as most kids at my school! I’ll go to Heaven when I die.”
His eyes were distant as He began to speak again. “Lyda, you are not perfect. You’ve lied to your mom about where you are when you go out, you let your best friend cheat off your test. I know about the nights spent at your boyfriend’s house and I know about the cutting on your arm since your dad left. You are trying to control your pain with your own strength. I know you doubt God. You look for Him and can’t seem to find Him. You blame Him when things go wrong and pat yourself on the back when things go well.”
“Lyda, you are looking for a God that doesn’t exsist. You have made Him small, given Him characteristics that are not of His nature. He is nothing like your dad, boyfriend or youth pastor - He is unlike anyone. You don’t truly seek Him. You seek for what you want to find and in not finding it you question everything.”
“I can show you what God is like”. He stood up. “God is not a man, that He should lie. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He is also a jealous God and without faith it is impossible to please Him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne and He is patient, wanting no one to perish”. He sat back down.
“You are dying, Lyda. Not today, but eventually, and as good as you think you are, you’re not good enough to go to heaven. Do you accept this Lyda?”
