To see an older person come to know the Lord is a great thrill, and one which gives much joy to other Christians. Not only that, but we are told in the Scriptures that it gives much joy in Heaven among the angels of God as well. It is another soul saved from the destruction that waits all those who refuse (or just neglect) doing what God tells them to do.
This may seem harsh to some, but it is just one of the unchangeable rules that have been laid down. Just as the law of gravity says that if you jump from the top of a tall building, you are going to crash to the ground, or if you touch a boiling pot on the stove you will get burnt, so God says the soul that sins will be separated from Him and die eternally.
Yes, God IS a God of love, but He is also a God of holiness and justice….all these things make up His character. He is totally fair, and He is always true to His character….one day every single soul ever born will have to face Him and will see their lives from His point of view. They will agree then that His assessment of them is the true one, and there will be no turning back from it. His love has provided a way of escape that His holiness demands and it is up to us to accept what He has done for us. I can’t do it for you, and you can’t do it for me; it is a personal thing that each person has to decide for himself.
So read these accounts, and see how God worked in these people’s lives to bring them to Him…..
“I Wish I Hadn’t Done It!”
The old lady and her daughter sat in my study looking a little uncertain.
“What can you tell me about my mother’s family?” the older lady asked, “I know a bit but not back to my grandparents or where they came from”.
It seemed a strange request, but as it happened, I had done quite a bit of research on the background of this family as we shared a common ancestor, and had written a book on the early beginnings of this district in northern New Zealand. We’ll call this lady Ellie for the sake of this story, and her mother Essie.
Essie was one of a large family, and as a young teenage girl, she had taken the job of assistant cook in a logging gang, working among men of different nationalities that made up this gang. Even though she was in the same district that she had grown up, she was still some miles away from her parent’s home, and away from their influence and care.
One of the older married men in the gang took it on himself to show a bit of protection for Essie and because he was kinder than the younger men she tended to seek him out for company in her spare time. After a few months, Essie started to feel ill every morning, and then it dawned on her that she might be pregnant. Whatever would she do?
She knew her parents would be no comfort to her, as it was considered a terrible disgrace in the early days of the twentieth century to be an unmarried mother. But she had no option, she had to tell them and endure their wrath and whatever solution they might suggest.
She was sent away to the anonymity of the big city to stay in a home especially for girls in her situation, and when her baby, a little girl, arrived she knew she had to give her up for adoption. But all was not entirely lost. The man who had befriended her, knew her predicament, and found out where she was staying. He had a solution he said. He was convinced the child was his, and since he and his wife had no family, they were prepared to take the baby and legally adopt her and bring her up. He had talked it over with his wife, he said, and she was happy to do this….she said the baby was half theirs anyway!
So Ellie was adopted by this couple and brought up as their own child. Living as they did in a small country district where everyone knew everyone else, it was inevitable that the other children at school knew that she was different. Ellie wasn’t even sure what being adopted meant, all she knew was that it meant she was different to the other children, and she had to endure many taunts in the playground because of it.
Ellie grew up and left the district to get work in the same city she had been born in, and met and married her husband. They eventually had five daughters and one son, and as a young mother, she missed her real mother so much that she made up her mind to find her. She eventually tracked Essie down. She too, had married and had other children, but had never told any of them about her “disgraceful” youth. Neither her husband, nor her other children knew of the existence of Ellie.
So when she knocked on their door and Essie opened it, Ellie told her who she was, and that Essie was her birth mother. Essie was so horrified at the ramifications of this spectre from the past, that she slammed the door shut in Ellie’s face, and refused to acknowledge her. All Ellie’s dreams of a tender reunion with her real mother dissolved in a moment, and the realisation that she was nothing more than an unwelcome embarrassment to her overcame her as she stumbled away down the path and back to her home. She felt that life indeed had dealt her a raw deal, and the seeds of bitterness and resentment grew and festered in her mind.
Many years passed by, and Ellie’s daughters grew up and married themselves. Her youngest daughter married and went off to the States to live, and her brother followed her over there and never came back to New Zealand. Ellie felt as though they had deserted her, and it was just one more nail in her coffin of resentment.
Her eldest daughter married and moved right away from the city, and then one of the other two girls was diagnosed as having cancer. She didn’t survive this, and once more Ellie felt bereft. Then to her horror, she heard that her eldest daughter who lived many miles away up north, had also been diagnosed with cancer. So Ellie lost this daughter also, and although the baby survived and was brought up by his father and new wife, Ellie never saw anything of him. She thought sadly of how he was her last link with her eldest daughter.
More years passed by. One day there was a knock at Ellie’s door. She opened it to see an old lady standing there (it was Essie).
“I’ve come to see you before I die” she quavered.
Ellie was so angry…who did she think she was after the way she had treated me? she thought. It gave her great pleasure to slam the door in her mother’s face, and watch her go down the path.
She heard a short while later that her mother had died, and there was never any reconciliation between them.
Now here she was sitting before me wanting to know more about her real family. I had seen this lady periodically coming to the ladies outreach meetings at our church. She had always looked so sad and miserable. Although there were many times when the topic of God’s love and forgiveness were spoken of, she never approached anyone to ask how this might help her even though the invitation to do so was frequently given.
As she told her sad story, it impressed itself on me what a difference it would have made to her if she had only done this! As far as I knew, she never did forgive her mother, and died still in her sadness and regrets of what might have been.
I include this story here as a warning of what bitterness and resentment can do to a person when it is not dealt with promptly. It is only natural to feel these things in the face of disappointments and hurts, but never let it stay and fester. The Bible tells us that these things have roots, and we are to get rid of them before they grow…
Watch carefully in case any person fails to show the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springs up and troubles you. (Hebrews 12:15)
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What are You going to do About it?
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. (Genesis 6:3a)
The men were working together sweating in the hot summer sun. They were carefully edging the small cottage that was on the trailer into the position where it was to be unloaded. Peter was helping the other two (Keith and Des) to move this cottage onto Des’ property up the gully. They had left early that morning and had towed the trailer with the tractor several miles from where they had picked it up.
Des and Keith had known Peter for quite some time now, and had struck up a friendship with him and his family. As time went by they asked him if he would like to go to the little church services where they were both going. He was happy to do this, and their families all had a good interaction with each other. There would be shared meals together and BBQs at one or the other’s homes.
The children went to Bible camps together, and Peter’s wife went too as a kitchen helper. There seemed to be complete harmony between Peter and the other Christians he was fellowshipping with as they all got on so well together. Anyone looking on would have thought that Peter was indeed one of the group.
Des continued to take the family to the Gospel messages Sunday by Sunday, but Peter never made any commitment verbally. Keith and one or two others met with Des regularly together on a Monday night for prayer for different matters they were concerned about, and Peter was high on their list at these times.
This particular weekend, there had been a preacher who had given a strong Gospel sermon, and Keith and Des were talking it over as they worked.
“What did you think of the message last night Peter?” Des asked.
“Pretty hard hitting wasn’t it?” was his non-committal reply.
“Did you understand it all?” Keith asked.
Peter straightened up from his job, “Yes, I understood it alright, I could see what he was getting at quite plainly”.
“Well, what are you going to do about it?” Keith persisted.
There silence for a moment, and then Peter said flatly, “Nothing!”
To say that Des and Keith were flabbergasted would be an understatement. What more could they say? Here was a man who had heard and clearly understood the call of God on his life and was refusing it point-blank.
They got on with their job in near silence now, and finished getting the cottage into place before leaving the site.
The next time Keith saw Des, he asked if he had seen Peter lately.
“Yes, I have”, said Des flatly, “and his language was shocking!”
“What do you mean?” asked Keith.
“Well, he was swearing terribly, and even using the Lord’s name in vain”, said Des sadly, “And he’s never done that since he started coming to the Sunday services over twelve months ago. It almost seems that the Lord hasn’t answered our prayers for him”.
“Oh, yes He has”, said Keith definitely, “Our prayer was the Lord would speak to him and bring him to the point of salvation, and that was the point he had reached last time I saw him. But the choice was his, and he has made the wrong one! God never forces anyone to do the right thing. You must remember that everyone has free choice in these things.”
“Yes, I guess you’re right”, said Des, “But it’s sad to see it happen right under your nose, and to such a nice guy as Peter too. I had such high hopes for him!”
From that time on, Peter never went near a church again. God had indeed spoken to him for the last time that Sunday evening, and he had refused once too often. Be sure that you don’t make this same mistake, as the results will last with you throughout eternity, and eternity is a long, long time to be full of regrets and memories of what might have been.
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Audrey’s Story.
This story illustrates how God works in different ways to bring people to Him. Audrey was a middle aged home help and addicted to smoking, coffee and T.V. She never gave God a thought.
One day she started working for an elderly God-fearing lady. This lady never spoke to Audrey about her faith, but Audrey saw the Bible beside her bed, and noticed her gentle loving manner. One day she gave Audrey a tape of testimony to take home and listen to.
As usual that evening, Audrey immediately turned the T.V. on, made her coffee and lit a cigarette. Before going to bed, she decided to listen to the tape, and heard the speaker tell how God had given him the strength to give up smoking. She thought, “If God did that for him, perhaps He could do it for me too!”
Waking up the next morning, she didn’t think of her cigarettes once. After a while, she thought in wonderment, “I haven’t had a smoke yet!” and stretched her hand out for the packet. While taking the first breath of smoke, she found it was utterly repugnant to her, and threw it down. Twice more she tried to smoke with the same result. After this, she never smoked another cigarette. She took the tape back, not telling the lady of her experience.
Shortly afterwards, her daughter arrived back from Australia and stayed with her. Usually they wouldn’t be together for two minutes without verbally sparring with each other. But this time, Audrey held her tongue when her daughter baited her.
“What’s happened to you Mum?” she asked “You’re different!”
Without even stopping to think, Audrey replied, “It’s the love of Jesus”.
With that confession of the name of Jesus, the light dawned on her soul, and Audrey was never the same again.
*** *** ***
Bob’s “If only”….
As Bob came to in the darkness, he wondered where he was. There were unfamiliar sounds going on around him, and a distinct disinfectant smell. He realised he was in a bed, but he was sure it wasn’t his own one. He tried to turn over and nothing seemed to be working. Whatever had happened to him?
Ah, he remembered now. He had left the local pub at closing time and found his way to his car. He remembered driving towards home and over the bridge that spanned quite a sizeable river on the way, but nothing more after that.
Bob had indeed driven over the bridge, but he had failed to see the corner immediately after it, and continued straight ahead up the bank where the car had flipped over. Bob had not been wearing his seat belt and he was thrown out. As a result his spinal cord was badly damaged leaving him a paraplegic. He was in hospital for a long time, and it took him several months before he admitted that his situation was actually his own fault.
First of all he railed against the fact that his seat belt wasn’t on, but he was the one who had not buckled up. It never occurred to him that if he hadn’t been drinking until closing time, he would have been capable of driving safely, so that was another nail in his coffin of blame, as it were.
No-one knew when it finally dawned on him that perhaps God was speaking to him through this accident. It wasn‘t that he was a stranger to the things of God. There had been a time when he had made his decision to follow the Lord, and was enthusiastic in his attendance at his small local church. But the older men tended to curb his youthful enthusiasm and he became discouraged. There came a day when he heard some more criticism, and that was it as far as he was concerned. He had had enough, he said. If that was how they felt, then he was finished.
Bob never attended a church service on a regular basis again, and in time, no-one would have recognized him as being a Christian. Years passed by, and his family arrived and grew up. In his time of reflection now in his hospital bed, he remembered different times when he felt that God was perhaps speaking to him.
There was that time that he had been feeding hay out to his cattle and carelessly thrown the loose bailing twine into the cab of his ute. As he drove onto the road, he got out to shut the gate behind him, and as his feet became tangled in the twine he fell onto the road. A car came around the corner and nearly caught him before he got up. Bob wondered at the time if the Lord was speaking to him, but he mentally shrugged it off as coincidence, and let the opportunity go by.
Then there was another time not long before this, when a visiting evangelist had come to the district. Bob attended one of the meetings, and was strongly moved to respond to the appeal when it was given at the end, but he thought of his drinking mates and what they would say to him. Just the same, he had to hold tightly to his seat with both hands to keep from making the move along the aisle when others were going down to the front.
“There’s still plenty of time”, he told himself.
Now he wondered if things would have been different if he had made that move back then. It began to dawn on him that perhaps all this was his own fault, and all because he kept shutting the thought of God out of his mind.
“Perhaps God IS speaking me” he said to himself, “If I had taken the step when that preacher was asking people to come forward, perhaps none of this would have happened!”
How right he was! He wouldn’t have been at the pub this particular night if he had done that!
By the time Bob was discharged from the hospital and able to go home, he had confessed his willfulness and disobedience to the Lord and received full forgiveness for it all. Bob was full of joy in his mind and heart now….not for the position he found himself in, but in the fact that now he had made his peace with God once more. He was able to pray again, picking up where he had left off when a young man. But in spite of that, nothing could give back the years he had wasted, and this was a constant regret to him.
He enjoyed the visits he had from other Christians who knew him, and to talk about the things of God was one of his greatest joys.
He now spent his days in his wheelchair looking out of the large windows of his living room across the town to the harbour in the distance. He had once served on the local harbour board, and was particularly interested in watching the container ships and tankers moving in and out of the harbour.
He lived for a few more years, and told one of his visitors not long before he passed into the Lord’s presence, “You know, I would sooner be like I am now, and able to enjoy these times with the Lord, than to be what I was once, able to walk but still running away from God. It doesn’t pay!”
The Apostle Paul wrote….. In case I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”
. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)