Turn to Christ early

I've been thinking about the different testimonies that people have.  

Some have been raised in homes where the Bible was valued, taught and lived out in very real and tangible ways.  They grew up seeing the beautiful reality of a genuine faith in God.  And one day, at a very early age, they too responded to the gospel and placed their faith in Christ.  From a young age, they have been learning about God and his wisdom and truth. Praise God!  What a beautiful testimony!

There are others, who have trusted in Christ later in life even though they have had poor examples of how a faithful believer should live.  They may have even gone through a rough patch in life where they rejected Christianity.  But now they are seeking to know the God of the Bible.  God can overcome the poor examples that people have been given and show that he is different than the poor example they saw.

And there are some who, like me, grew up never hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The Bible's teachings were foreign to me...God was foreign to me.  The culture and media were strong influences in my life and I made many poor and foolish choices that I regret.

God has certainly worked in different ways in each of our lives.  I deeply treasure my salvation and the fact that I have witnessed firsthand the amazing transforming power of God in my heart. But I would not wish the anguish, shame, and regret of sin that I have experienced on anyone.  

May we never think that living a life of degrading sin is a glamorous thing.  May we never think that in order to have a compelling testimony, we need to experience the perversions of sin and then turn to Christ afterwards.  Far be it from our way of thinking!!  Would God ever have it so?

By God's grace he redeems us.  And though we have sinned, he mercifully allows us to be useful.  In some ways we may try to reason that if we hadn't sinned in a certain way that we wouldn't be able to reach certain people.  Not so!  Sin is never something to be thankful for.

People may think that we need to relate to specific sins in order to reach others but I believe that to be a lie from the devil himself.  Wouldn't he just love for us to glorify sin in such an insidious way?

It is the gospel that people need!  Not more sin to relate to!  And the messengers need to be people who truly believe the gospel, live it out and desire with all their heart to share it.  I understand that we have all had special moments with those who we could relate to, but my point is that we should never think that this is necessary to spread the gospel or to have an awesome testimony for the Lord.  The most awesome testimony for him is to live a pure and godly life.

Whether early or later in life, if we have trusted in Christ we have been saved from sin.  For those who have surrendered to his lordship early in life, I thank God.  How precious to walk with our wonderful Creator God from an early age.  How blessed you are to have been learning about the awesome God who has breathed life into your very soul and daily equips you with wisdom to live a joyful and peaceful life out of obedience to him.  

You have been saved from being battered and bruised by your own sinful deeds.  Continue faithfully in his ways.  You too, have an amazing rescue story.  This is the life I would choose for each and every one of my children.

For those of us who have turned to Christ later in life, after experiencing life-long patterns of sin...we have scars, don't we?  We have taken sin's beating.  And though, by God's grace, we have managed to come out alive--we live with the painful reality that we have deeply grieved God.  I know that, as Christians, we should all understand that our sin grieves God.  Whether we have a life-long pattern or not.  But what I am saying is that I wouldn't wish vivid memories of personal sin committed against God and others on anybody.  

Sometimes I wonder how far back in my life I should go to seek forgiveness for the wrongs I have done to my fellow man--it is a grief I would not want anyone to experience, especially in large quantities.

Let us never think that it is better to come to Christ after living in deep seated rebellion against God in our youth.  

Let us never give our children the impression that it is "normal" or even expected for them to live however they want when they are young and even worse, that it will give them a more powerful testimony in the future.  

Yes, God graciously uses us and brings glory to his name even through our failures.  But how much more glory will he receive if we turn to him early and seek his kingdom first as we live our lives on this earth.  He is worthy of our allegiance and it is never a good thing to withhold our service to the King of kings.  

Turn to Christ early, and serve him with all of your heart for all of the days that the Lord your God is giving you.  Everything else is a waste of precious time.