7/10/20 Larry
Have you had an “out of body” or near-death experience? Maybe a spiritual encounter of some sort,
maybe with a deceased loved one? Of all
the people I’ve had in-depth conversations with, perhaps 10 to 20 percent have
told me they have, and I was usually able to find out enough about their
experience to not doubt their sincerity.
A relatively low percentage of these people have been
Christians, but most have a strong belief in a spiritual dimension to life as a
result of their experiences. It makes me
think that God works through experiences like this in many people as a way to remind
them that there is more to life than the
physical dimension. But since many are
not Christians it also reminds me that mere “spirituality” falls short of the right
relationship with God we can have in Christ.
It’s not enough to just “believe” in God or at least a
spiritual dimension to life. James 2:19
tells us “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe
that—and shudder.” They “shudder”
because they know they aren’t right with God.
We can learn from their mistake!
I think spiritual experiences are usually meant to be one of
the “milestones” in our memory on the road that leads toward salvation. I think that’s how it worked for a man named
Larry that I talked with in a Home Depot parking lot. When I asked about his beliefs about
eternity, he immediately began to tell me about the experiences he had while in
a coma after a traffic accident. It wasn’t
until much later in the conversation that he began to talk about his faith in
Christ.
These experiences can be very real and life-changing, but
they fall short of the ongoing, day-to-day faith relationship that believers
have in Christ, and if we focus on one of our spiritual milestones early in our
journey, we might just miss telling people what is really important.
Thanks for allowing me to record our conversation,
Larry! It can be seen at https://youtu.be/T4lcaLXAyFA
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