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From
DEATH to LIFE
Fydor
Doestoevsky is one the greatest novelists of all time.
He describes an experience
he had when he was 27-years-old as a turning point in
his life. Doestoevsky came from
the privileged class of 19th century
Russia
, but was committed to the liberation of the oppressed
working class, the serfs. He joined a revolutionary
liberation group, and as a result was arrested in
April 1849. Placed in a maximum security prison, he
found conditions to be terrible. Doestoevsky slept on
a hard straw bed in a small, damp room without much
light. For eight months Doestoevsky and his fellow
prisoners were questioned and kept in jail.
In
October, the prisoners were removed from their cells
and led to waiting carriages. They were not sure of
their fate, but assumed the sentence would be light.
When the carriages stopped, the prisoners were led
onto a square and lined up on a platform. The
men were sentenced to be shot.
They were dressed in peasant shirts and hoods
for the execution. The first three men in line were
led to some stakes and tied to them.
The soldiers took aim, and held their
positions. Then suddenly a drum roll was heard, and a
messenger from the Tsar rode in on a horse, with the GOOD
NEWS of a pardon for Doestoevsky and his fellow
prisoners. They were taken back to prison, with the
intention of being sent to prison in
Siberia
.
In a
letter to his brother Mikhail, Doestoevsky describes
his new outlook towards life that was gained from his
experience. "When I look back on my past and
think how much time I wasted on nothing, how much time
has been lost in futilities, errors, laziness,
incapacity to live; how little I appreciated it, how
many times I sinned against my heart and soul - then
my heart bleeds. Life is a GIFT, life is
happiness; every minute can be an eternity of
happiness." *
Our
condition IN
SIN is much like that of Doestoevsky: Because
of our sins, WE are sentenced to DEATH!
“For the wages of sin is DEATH” (Romans
6:23).
However,
a message from God has been sent from heaven with GOOD
NEWS: God’s Son, Jesus Christ, has been
executed for OUR sins.
“He Himself bore our sins in His own body on
the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for
righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed” (1
Peter 2:24).
The
GOOD NEWS (the
“Gospel”) is that Jesus’ death on the cross can
satisfy the debt of our sins if we will: believe
in Him and trust Him (Acts 16:30-31), repent
of our sins (Acts 17:30-31), confess
Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and
are baptized
(immersed) in His name for
the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
The Good News is that if we will continue to
follow Him that He will continue to cleanse us
from all sin (1 John 1:7).
From
DEATH to LIFE: Jesus makes ALL the difference in
our outlook for the future.
With this new perspective, we are able to find
true joy and the precious nature of life.
Do
YOU have this hope?
You can – through Christ!
David
A. Sargent, Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
*
Source: adapted
from Scott Higgins. Information from
"Doestoevsky and Autobigraphy - Prison" by
Jennifer Jay at:
www.middlebury.edu/~beyer/courses/previous/ru351/studentpapers
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