Billy Graham's daughter Anne Graham Lotz, founder of Angel Ministries, cannot understand why some people would give up the treasures of heaven for the paltry "garbage" of this world.
"One of the pictures in John Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress' is of a man bending double from his waist, sorting through a can of garbage, carefully extracting the little bits of tinsel he finds there," she writes on her website. "Behind him is standing an angel who is offering him a solid gold crown studded with precious jewels, but the man is so engrossed in the garbage he never notices the angel."
She then encourages people to reflect how they will feel when they get to heaven. "Will you and I be ashamed of our preoccupation with 'garbage' in this life—garbage that prevented us from dying to our desire for it, turning around, leaving it all behind, and reaching out for what God wanted to give us?" she asks. "Why is it that we seem to cling so tightly to what we want, and in the process lose what God wants us to have?"
Lotz says God wants His children to have power, blessing and glory. But Christians cannot obtain these by simply adding Jesus into their lives. This is not enough, says Lotz, because God has to become a person's entire life.
She also shares that she has met several people who appear to pray to God and call for repentance. However, Lotz is disheartened because they seem to be doing these things only as "a rending of garments" and "an outward show to impress."
"The pleading seems to be contrived and hollow instead of broken-hearted and contrite," she observes. This also causes Lotz to reflect on her own sincerity towards God and how serious she is in seeking His favour for the nation. "Only God knows those who are rending their hearts as they seek Him," she says.
