On The Arena Floor
Hello again. I would like to tell you about something that happened to me whilst on my travels. This was while I travelled across Europe, and insodoing, alighted upon the Eternal City itself. Yes, that's right, none other than Rome! I always remember that the book I hated most in the world was one I had been made to read in school. And this was Edward Gibbons' "Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire". Nothing was more sure to anybody off a subject than this dewy-eyed piece of mental and verbal bromide! I have no doubt that it was written to instill in its readers a right-wing, reactionary mind-set. Trust me, The august and overtly prolific Mr. Gibbons' words fell on very stony ground in my case! I spent the rest of my formative years, and the early part of my adult years, for that matter, arguing, pamphleteering and generally disagreeing at every given opportunity with anything and anyone who crossed my path with the merest passing resemblance of sympathy with the opinions of the above quoted opus. It was not until my conversion to Christianity that all this stopped! How did my experience of the glorious New Birth in Jesus Christ accomplish this momentous event, I hear you ask? If I may express it as simply as possible, it made me forget about it! I wish I had an emoticon. I'd put a smiley right here right now!
And yet, I have to say that it all came flooding back when I actually visited Rome itself. Ahem! At least now, I can understand why he wrote like he did. It's a truly wonderful place! You may also ask why I decided to go there in the first place, if I felt as I did. Reasonable. My answer is two-fold. One, A lot of entertainment had drawn my attention back to it, most notably, Starz TV's Spartacus. I found this hugely entertaining and it gave me a niggling feeling that I might want to visit. Second, my friends prevailed upon me to do so. They are of the firm persuasion that everyone should visit Rome at the very least once in their lives. And having thusly sown in me the seed of aspiration, it eventually turned into the harvest of a visit.
I visited all the sites that you can think of when you think the word Rome. I think I spent the whole time wide-eyed and open-mouthed. I took quite simply hundreds of pictures and walked around in the boiling heat with my neck craned upwards and turning in circles. Everything amazed me.
but nothing could prepare me for the mortifying experience that was standing on the floor of the arena of the Colosseum. The whole floor has not been reconstructed. But it was enough for the atmosphere to come down on me with a mighty thud! I stood outside the great iron gates where many hapless Christians just like myself, humble souls whose only "crime" was that they simply loved Jesus Christ for all that has been done for our souls by Him and mean no harm to anyone in the world, would have been led out to their deaths. On this very spot where I was standing! I stood there for a good while, as you may appreciate, and thought about this. As I did so, I caught sight of the huge black cross on the other side of the arena. Apparently, it was erected by Pope Benedict XIV between the years 1740 and 1758, and declared a holy site and was entitled "The Way Of The Cross". Time went on, but I did not want to move. It was not as though I could not move, or felt in some strange way transfixed to the spot. No, it was the plain truth that, as so many others of the same confession of faith as my own were treated so inhumanly, what if I was the next in line? Just imagine! What if Caesar, standing up there in his box to my right under his gazebo in the blazing Roman sunshine, had looked down at me and said something like,
"You have one minute. Tell us what you have to say!"
What would I say? Hey, for that matter what do you think you would say? Now it's true, I'm putting you on the spot. Furthermore, I have had some considerable time to think about it. Remember, the two watch-words here are brevity and simplicity. Well, here's my answer. It's four-fold, and it goes like this:
1. God loves you.
Do you know something? You are very privileged to be reading that statement. I have gone to Church all my life and I can truly say that I have never once heard any clergyman or preacher say those words. Indeed, in many cases, when it is dealt with, in many cases it is explained away! And yet it is the most indispensable statement in the whole of the Christian Faith. So here it is again: God loves you.
2. You must be saved.
This idea is a little confrontational, it has to be conceded. But on the arena floor, there is no time for niceties. Here, it not so much confrontational, as simply urgent. No matter what it looks like, that I'm on the arena floor and the lions are hungry and I'm their next course, it is Caesar and all who hear me that need to be saved.
3. You can be saved.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, descend into hell-fire, rise from the dead the third day and ascend into Heaven to be seated at the right-hand of the Father so that He could be some heavenly porter, "to make it possible" as some say, to be saved. No, The Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour. And a saviour saves! Your salvation is not an option, or for that matter a possibility; no, your salvation is a promise from Heaven, and it lasts forever.
4. Here's how.
It is NOT difficult to be saved. But it's still not easy. You have to go to your room and close the door. Next, you have to get on your knees before God, and, yes, confess your sins. Told you it wasn't easy, didn't I? There's just no avoiding the subject, as the Bible says, "we have all sinned and fall short of the glory (standard) of God." (Romans 3.23 my brackets). But trust me this is not to judge or condemn, it is to reveal us to ourselves so that we do not rely on ourselves. Then you must ask The Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be your Personal Saviour. At this point you might be forgiven for thinking to yourself along the lines of "What on earth is all this about?" And this would be because you do not "feel" anything. But that's just it! If you felt it, let alone saw it, it would not be faith. If it helps settle the matter in your mind and feelings (and remember this also, feelings are not called feelings for nothing), why not say something like "I believe I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Personal Saviour".
That is simply and clearly what I would say on the arena floor. I hope that it has been a blessing to you to read. I pray that you have been through all the above, and that if you have not, you will not allow another moment to pass without doing so for your eternal good.
God bless you and thank you for visiting.
And yet, I have to say that it all came flooding back when I actually visited Rome itself. Ahem! At least now, I can understand why he wrote like he did. It's a truly wonderful place! You may also ask why I decided to go there in the first place, if I felt as I did. Reasonable. My answer is two-fold. One, A lot of entertainment had drawn my attention back to it, most notably, Starz TV's Spartacus. I found this hugely entertaining and it gave me a niggling feeling that I might want to visit. Second, my friends prevailed upon me to do so. They are of the firm persuasion that everyone should visit Rome at the very least once in their lives. And having thusly sown in me the seed of aspiration, it eventually turned into the harvest of a visit.
I visited all the sites that you can think of when you think the word Rome. I think I spent the whole time wide-eyed and open-mouthed. I took quite simply hundreds of pictures and walked around in the boiling heat with my neck craned upwards and turning in circles. Everything amazed me.
but nothing could prepare me for the mortifying experience that was standing on the floor of the arena of the Colosseum. The whole floor has not been reconstructed. But it was enough for the atmosphere to come down on me with a mighty thud! I stood outside the great iron gates where many hapless Christians just like myself, humble souls whose only "crime" was that they simply loved Jesus Christ for all that has been done for our souls by Him and mean no harm to anyone in the world, would have been led out to their deaths. On this very spot where I was standing! I stood there for a good while, as you may appreciate, and thought about this. As I did so, I caught sight of the huge black cross on the other side of the arena. Apparently, it was erected by Pope Benedict XIV between the years 1740 and 1758, and declared a holy site and was entitled "The Way Of The Cross". Time went on, but I did not want to move. It was not as though I could not move, or felt in some strange way transfixed to the spot. No, it was the plain truth that, as so many others of the same confession of faith as my own were treated so inhumanly, what if I was the next in line? Just imagine! What if Caesar, standing up there in his box to my right under his gazebo in the blazing Roman sunshine, had looked down at me and said something like,
"You have one minute. Tell us what you have to say!"
What would I say? Hey, for that matter what do you think you would say? Now it's true, I'm putting you on the spot. Furthermore, I have had some considerable time to think about it. Remember, the two watch-words here are brevity and simplicity. Well, here's my answer. It's four-fold, and it goes like this:
1. God loves you.
Do you know something? You are very privileged to be reading that statement. I have gone to Church all my life and I can truly say that I have never once heard any clergyman or preacher say those words. Indeed, in many cases, when it is dealt with, in many cases it is explained away! And yet it is the most indispensable statement in the whole of the Christian Faith. So here it is again: God loves you.
2. You must be saved.
This idea is a little confrontational, it has to be conceded. But on the arena floor, there is no time for niceties. Here, it not so much confrontational, as simply urgent. No matter what it looks like, that I'm on the arena floor and the lions are hungry and I'm their next course, it is Caesar and all who hear me that need to be saved.
3. You can be saved.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, descend into hell-fire, rise from the dead the third day and ascend into Heaven to be seated at the right-hand of the Father so that He could be some heavenly porter, "to make it possible" as some say, to be saved. No, The Lord Jesus Christ is the Saviour. And a saviour saves! Your salvation is not an option, or for that matter a possibility; no, your salvation is a promise from Heaven, and it lasts forever.
4. Here's how.
It is NOT difficult to be saved. But it's still not easy. You have to go to your room and close the door. Next, you have to get on your knees before God, and, yes, confess your sins. Told you it wasn't easy, didn't I? There's just no avoiding the subject, as the Bible says, "we have all sinned and fall short of the glory (standard) of God." (Romans 3.23 my brackets). But trust me this is not to judge or condemn, it is to reveal us to ourselves so that we do not rely on ourselves. Then you must ask The Lord Jesus Christ to come into your heart and be your Personal Saviour. At this point you might be forgiven for thinking to yourself along the lines of "What on earth is all this about?" And this would be because you do not "feel" anything. But that's just it! If you felt it, let alone saw it, it would not be faith. If it helps settle the matter in your mind and feelings (and remember this also, feelings are not called feelings for nothing), why not say something like "I believe I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my Personal Saviour".
That is simply and clearly what I would say on the arena floor. I hope that it has been a blessing to you to read. I pray that you have been through all the above, and that if you have not, you will not allow another moment to pass without doing so for your eternal good.
God bless you and thank you for visiting.
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