While on a run, I passed a woman walking three dogs. I read the message in large letters on the back of her shirt: what do you fear the most?
God jerked me to a stop in front of her. The dogs stopped sniffing the bushes to turn their snouts in my direction. God insisted I needed to ask that woman how she would answer that question.
“What do you fear the most?” I asked.
She looked up, surprised.
“I don’t know...maybe pain. Yes, pain.”
“I would answer it differently. I most fear the one who determines where I spend eternity.”
“Oh, I would never begin to think in those terms,” the woman said.
“Where will you go when you die?” I asked her. “Heaven or hell?”
“I never thought much about it,” she said.
“Do you mind if I talk with you about that?”
“No. I don’t mind. I am just walking the dogs.”
“Do you believe in God?”
“I don’t know. I DO believe in evil.”’
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve seen it.”
“And you know it when you see it?”
“Yes.”
“What is the worst evil?”
She thought for a moment, and then said, “I suppose the Bible would say Satan.”
“Why?” I asked. “What did he do that was evil?”
She again paused. “I don’t know. I guess he defied God.”
“But you don’t believe in God...so how do you know if something is evil or not? I mean there are sociopaths who think harming others is ok. Does that make it ok?”
“No.”
“Well is there an absolute standard then that determines good or evil?”
“Well it evolves...i mean we used to say slavery was good and now we say it is not.”
“So did good or evil change? Was slavery good when we said it was...or was it always bad?”
She agreed it was always bad.
“Then you have agreed there is a standard that is unchanging that determines good and evil. So if there is a standard...who put it there? Doesn’t there need to be a standard giver?”
She did not think there needed to be...but was uncertain. She agreed that unless there was an absolute standard then good and evil were meaningless, fluid, relative to circumstances, and dependent on the feelings or whims of each one of us. Yet she knew in her heart that there is evil and she knew it when she saw it.
“That’s because God writes it on our hearts,” I told her.
“I can agree that God could be our conscience.”
“So are you going to heaven, if there is such a place?”
“Well, I believe I am a good person who is human and makes mistakes, but I have a good heart.”
“May I ask you some questions about that?”
“Sure.”
I went through a few of the Ten Commandments. It didn’t take long for her to admit she wasn’t as good as she thought she was. She agreed she was a lying, thieving, blaspheming, adulterous, murderer by God’s standards. She also agreed that transgressing the law should be punished. She agreed that a good judge would not let lawless behavior go without consequence. She agreed all humans sin. She agreed that if God existed, He had the right to set the penalty for sin, and that He must punish sin if He was a perfect judge.
We had been walking and talking about forty minutes by now. I suddenly realized I didn’t know her name, nor had I offered mine.
“I am sorry, I don’t even know your name,” I said.
“Vicky,” she answered.
I was silent, staring at her.
“With a y?” I asked finally.
“Yes....”
“Well my name is also Vicky...with a Y. Is yours short for Victoria?”
“No. Just Vicky.”
“Mine too,” I said. “Now if you ask me, this alone might prove that God exists.”
As we walked on, I shared the Gospel. She listened intently, and asked many questions. When I finished, I said, “So if Jesus is who He claims to be and we do not accept His offer to pay the penalty we deserve, we are going to pay the penalty ourselves. And that is death, eternal separation from God, Hell. Which returns me to where we started...what it says on the back of your shirt.”
“What does it say on the back of my shirt?”she asked. “It’s a Goodwill find. I don’t even know what it says.”
I laughed. “It says ‘What do you most fear?’ That’s why I stopped to talk to you...I read your shirt. You must have thought I was a lunatic asking you that out of the blue!”
“No...I just thought you must have been thinking about that on your run.”
In the end, I of course extended an invitation to ask Jesus to be her Lord, but she was not ready for that. However, she thanked me and told me she had enjoyed our talk. Honestly, I am somewhat surprised at myself. I don’t often stop strangers on the street in that manner. However, her shirt asked me a question I instantly knew the answer to. I most fear being separated from God...and that very God was the one shoving me forward saying, “Find out what she most fears...and then help her know MY truth.”
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The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
