Here is a man who was born in an obscure village.
the child of a peasant woman. He worked as a
carpenter till he was thirty; then for three years
he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a
book. He never owned a home. He never went to
college. He never held an office. He never
traveled more than two hundred miles from the
place where he was born. He never did any of the
things that usually accompany greatness.
The things that He said surprized them. No man
ever spoke as this man; simply yet profoundly
revealing the truth of the kingdom of GOD. The
things He did left them amazed and confounded;
signs and wonders only GOD was able to perform.
Some said He was a wise teacher, some called Him
a great prophet, some even called Him Lord.
He dared to challenge the learned scholars and
religious leaders of His time. For this He was
seen as a heretic and a rebel; a threat to the
nation. His friends would forsake Him, His
disciples would desert Him; one of them would
betray Him. His own people would condemn Him
and deliver Him to His enemies and to a criminal's
death.
Yet the light of the world still shines in the
darkness, the truth He proclaimed remains the
same, and the love He came to show us will never
die. Twenty centuries have come and gone, and His
influence and His power remain undiminished. The
message of GOD'S gift of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life endure through the ages.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the
armies that ever marched, and all the navies that
ever were built, and all the kings that ever
reigned put together have not affected the life
of man upon this earth as profoundly as that
one solitary life!!
