Stalled on the Train Tracks of Life
Your movement matters from guilt to grace
CHRISTIAN LIFE LESSONS | POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY | STORYTELLING
Stalled on the Train Tracks of Life
You’re driving along the road of life and then you see the railroad crossing. All clear. No warning lights appear and no big metal bars block your way. You’re free to cross, but your car stalls on the tracks. And then you see a train coming towards you.
In the seconds you have to think about what to do, you try to unbuckle your seatbelt and get out quickly, but there’s no time.
Suddenly, you are pushed from behind off the tracks by a semi-truck. The train wrecks. The driver of the semi dies.
In your place
Stories have a way of communicating to us through visual images of real life from our own frame of reference. This story may be true or illustrative, but the principle of replacement is obvious. One dies so that another may live. One intentionally takes your place to die for you.
When you read Scripture passages that convey this concept, they may be words that hold greater meaning when the image is concrete instead of abstract. A visual image, an analogy, or an allegory like Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan, clarifies the words from the Bible so that we can more effectively apply words.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8–9
“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2
“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10
“For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.” Romans 6:10
“So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:28
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” Hebrews 9:27
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.’” John 11:25
“For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:26–28
“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” John 1:29
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21
“When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” John 19:30
“For then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26
“Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28
“He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” Hebrews 9:12
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” Hebrews 2:9
Take time to praise God for His lovingkindness
Now that you see the story unfold, take time to check the context of these passages for a greater appreciation of God’s plan throughout history. Jesus is the semi-truck driver who willingly and intentionally saved you from the guilt-ridden train tracks of sin and death. You did nothing to save yourself. You are set free to live for Christ who sacrificed His own life for you!
