Open Letter – a Lifeline
© 2015 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)
My cows could help me feed them if they would voluntarily obey a few simple rules. The following letter, to my cows, explains how.
Dear cows,
Since I own and feed you, I have a new plan. You’ll benefit from it because it will help me grow more grass for you to eat. I’ll benefit by eliminating a lot of work I normally have to do to rotate you from field to field. Here’s the plan. Please graze each field in narrow strips. Move northward to the next strip when each is done. Upon completion of each field, move clockwise to the next. To encourage re-growth of grass, avoid walking on grass not currently being grazed. Please don’t push your heads through my fences to eat grass on the other side. It takes time and money to fix fences you break by doing this. If you promise not to escape, and to obey these simple rules, I’ll leave the gates open so that you can move from field to field in accordance with this mutually beneficial plan.
Happy eating!
-Tom
Of course you all know this plan can’t work. My cows, though physically alive, are dead to human thought. They have wills which are free only to desire what cows normally desire. Their wills have no capacity to even comprehend the simple rules expressed in my letter. They won’t stay where I want them unless I fence them in and shut the gates. Only the miraculous implant of a new nature could make my cows alive to the adoption of my plan.
Similarly, only the miraculous power of God’s Holy Spirit in the fallen heart of a man will make that man’s will responsive to God’s gospel plan. Scripture tells us that man’s unredeemed heart is dead. It cannot please God (Romans 8:5-9). Only God can quicken (make alive) such a heart. God the Son, Jesus, paid the penalty for the sins of His people by shedding His blood on the cross of Calvary.
God’s Word, the Bible, is like an open letter to humans. It is the means by which God has chosen to miraculously implant saving faith in man’s otherwise dead heart.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).
Are you listening to God’s open letter to humans?
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