Lesson from a Lampstand

My name is Betty. I live with my husband Ralf in Germany. We have three children. We love the Lord with our heart, soul and strength. We share stories and read books out loud to our children that show the true meaning of life and that help us to draw closer to Jesus.

The best story I would like to share now with you is how I became saved. Although I had “known” Jesus already, I had no personal relationship with Him. I prayed to Him and read His Word and let other people know about Him, but I was still not saved. I did everything in a religious way. I grew up as a Catholic and I was not free from some lies that made me depressed. Many people did a good job of planting the Word of God into my heart, but my eyes were still dim and I had many doubts about God.

In August 2012 we met people from the Bible Baptist. I realized my spiritual starvation and that I had a need of becoming free. Mothers and women who loved the Lord shared with me how to understand the Word of God. My husband was changed and was eager to read God’s Word more and more. Also the preaching of the Pastor was like eating a very solid and healthy meal. During October they had a Children’s Bible Week. When I was listening to the story of Jesus with my children, the Pastor and other teachers were teaching the kids how to come to heaven, and I began longing to be saved and became alive in my spirit.

One day my lampstand got broken in two pieces in my livingroom. When I was holding them, one on my left and the other on my right hand, they reminded me suddenly about mankind and God. One part was “me” and the other part was “God.” And in the middle it was broken. To fix my lampstand again I needed something that would hold these two bars together. I sent my 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, to get a roll of packaging tape. All of my children watched what I was doing. At first it wasn’t easy to hold the bars straight together, so they had to help me. But the more I taped around the broken place, the thicker the tape got and the firmer my lampstand got in the middle. I put a lot of tape around it, until the roll was almost empty. And suddenly I understood that in this illustration God was showing me something, something that I hadn’t understood before. When Jesus gave His life, He gave all of Himself to bind me forever with God. Just like I had to take all of the roll of tape so that the lampstand could have a good hold. There is nothing I could do to come to God, because I am a sinner, the broken part. The only thing to have peace with God was accepting what Jesus has done for my life. Doing good works or being religious would not bring me nearer to God. Jesus had done it already for me, and for all of us, around 2000 years ago. For many years I hadn’t understood that. For many years I was following the law, the ten commandments, and I was doubting if God ever heard my prayers anyway, because I was separated from Him before. But now, praise Jesus, He opened my eyes! Now I know, for sure, that I am saved. Like my new lampstand, which has a mark in the middle, I have the mark of the Holy Spirit. I have a new design and I am a new creation. And nothing can separate me from the Love of God. Jesus is like the best “packaging tape” between me and God.

Editor’s note:

Thank you for sharing your story, Betty. As the Lord has showed you, salvation is possible because Jesus gave up His life for us. This is a wonderful truth, since nothing we can do will reconcile us to God—only by forsaking our own ways and trusting Jesus can we be saved from sin. The Bible teaches us, “as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him,”* (Colossians 2:6) and, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering (for He is faithful that promised).”* (Hebrews 10:23) These, and other scriptures, show us that just as we are saved by faith and not our own efforts, so we must live for the Lord by faith and not our own efforts. Jesus alone will give us power to be “new creatures” that bear good fruit. Jesus has promised that He will never forsake us, but we can stop abiding (trusting) in Him and go our own way, or trust in something else. If we do, we will be separated once more from God (John 15:6; Hebrews 10:26,38; 2 Peter 2:20). Our safety, then, is to give ourselves fully to God in everything—just as Jesus gave Himself fully for us. Then His Holy Spirit can fill us and keep us from falling (Jude 1:20-25).