[1]
2 Peter 3:9Holman
Christian Standard Bible
9 The Lord does not delay His
promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting
any to perish but all to come to repentance.
When I was 12, I was sent off to
boarding school. Up until that time I had led a very sheltered life. I attended
a preparatory school connected with a college where Dad was a very respected
teacher. Over the next six years I picked up my “street smarts.” Originally I found
it expedient to stand up for the opinions of the authorities. I regarded their
rules, their opinions, their decisions as sacrosanct.
This submersion in boarding school
was like taking large helpings of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Being a somewhat normal if nerdy teenager, I tried lots of forbidden things
just for the kicks. I tried alcohol and tobacco, shoplifting, and other obvious
sins. Worse, I learned subterfuge, deceit, and general distrust of the
establishment.
The establishment had taught me
the legal aspects of Christianity. They taught me to read inspiration their
way. Their way supported church authority at all costs. Therefore I read the
Bible with their interpretation. I read the Spirit of Prophecy with their
interpretation. Everything I read showed me how evil I had become. Indeed, I
quickly recognized that I was damned. Furthermore, there was no way I could
change that status. This led me deeper
and deeper into a sinful, lawless life. My fellow students were quick to urge me
on in my descent towards hell.
But God had decided to defeat the
triumph of Satan and evil over my life. He led me to Germany. I went there to
learn German—at another boarding school. This time my fellow students were all
German. Knowing no German initially, I felt cut off from my fellow humans. To
compensate, I attended a Sunday church on the American military base and joined
its choir, merely for companionship. They spoke English, so we could understand
each other.
These new friends came from all walks
of life and all religious persuasions. Some came to church for exactly the same
reason as I had—for companionship. They had as little Christianity as I did.
Others came because they loved Jesus and wanted fellowship with other
Christians. One of these made it his mission to introduce Jesus to me.
Yes, I knew Jesus. He carried
around a big black book with all of my misdeeds in it underlined in red. He was
seeking to punish me for all of my evil thoughts and actions. This new Jesus I now
met was a savior. At first, I didn’t really know what that word “Savior” meant.
But with long patience, this missionary taught me. He had a very simplistic
understanding of Jesus, even childlike. But that’s exactly what Jesus had
declared as essential to being a Christian. Finally I accepted this new concept
of Jesus. Then I spent many years unlearning what my early training had so
successfully drummed into every facet of my psyche. I was not doomed but,
praise God, forgiven and a child of God.
Thank You, Lord, for working
out things for good. Help me to communicate this with those You bring to me.
[1]
https://www.westminster.org.uk/school-life/pastoral-care/boarding/
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