It’s His Kindness
I have been in church for as long as I can remember. My mom once told me that a week after I was born, they took me to church. As I grew, I enjoyed going to church and I especially enjoyed singing. You see, I grew up church of Christ, which meant we sang without any instruments, just our voices. As I became a teenager, I enjoyed church because of the friendships I had and the youth group I was part of. However, there was a pretty big issue that I had with church. I wasn’t sure I was ready to say yes to Jesus.
Around the age of 13, my dad would often come into my room and talk to me about baptism. I wanted NO part of that. Why? Well, at my church, to be baptized, you waited until the very end of the service, they had an invitation song (that’s really what they called it), you had to walk this long aisle to the front and you had to be crying. Nope, not for me. There were also many things I didn’t understand about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I felt like I had to know more; know everything about Jesus to say yes to him. Last, I put a lot of weight in my friends. Most of my “church friends” did things that I didn’t think Christians should do. They drank and did drugs, among other things, and I remember thinking, if that is what a Christian looks like, count me out.
When I was 16, my good friend Brennen decided he wanted to get baptized. He walked all the way to the front, and yes, he was crying. I was so proud of him. Brennen and I had grown up together, but Brennen was one of those teenagers that liked to rebel. He dabbled in the things of this world, but he now wanted to be different. Anytime someone got baptized, our church would gather around and wait for them to come out of the baptistery. There, we would hug them, tell them we were proud of them, and we would sing a song over them. As I was waiting for Brennen, two ladies that I had known for many years came up to me. They said, “I can’t believe he (Brennen) beat you.” I responded, “beat me?” They said yes, “you seem to have it more together than he does and yet, he got baptized first.” In my younger days, I didn’t hold my tongue as much, so I quickly said, “well I didn’t know it was a race.” I was so mad angry at them for saying what they said. I had to walk away or I might smart off even more. This wasn’t about me. This is what the Lord had done in Brennen.
In February of 1997, my senior year of high school, our church had a youth retreat. This was a time to get away, worship together and hopefully learn more about the Lord. Like I had done for so many years, I went, with no real thought that the Lord was going to do anything in me. The last night we were there, 2 ladies from my church (they were different than the first 2) approached me. They simply said, Mark, why haven’t you said yes to Jesus. Before I could answer, they said, you are such a leader. Our sons (both of whom were a few years younger than me) look up to you. They watch you and respect you. Honestly, my first thought was, why? Why do they look up to me? Why do they respect me? I was thankful that their approach had been much kinder than that of the other women a few years earlier. For the first time in a long time, I began to wonder what was holding me back. Yes, all the things before were still true, the long aisle, thinking I needed to know everything, but I began to wonder, what if I had overvalued those things.
In May, I graduated from high school, still not a follower of Jesus. I was now 3 months away from going off to college. My last few youth events were in front of me, retreats, summer camps, etc. On June 12, as I lay in bed, I started having it out with the Lord. You see, another Christian friend of mine had gone down the wrong path. They were doing things that I knew would bring them destruction. I laid there, telling the Lord how stupid they were for the decisions they were making. How foolish they were being and that I was disappointed in them. I have yet to hear the audible voice of God, but in that moment, I knew the Lord was speaking to me. He simply said, “Mark, you are worried about them, but my blood does NOT cover you.” All these years I had a comeback. All these years I had a rebuttal, but now, I was speechless. For the first time, I recognized I was lost. I knew that I needed Jesus; I needed his blood to cover me. The fear of knowing everything, didn’t matter any longer. I knew what I needed more than anything else was Jesus. So right there in my bed, for the very first time, I said yes. The next day, Friday, June 13 (yes, Friday the 13th) I got baptized. I wanted the world to know that I belonged to Jesus.
In Romans 2:4, it says, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.” God could have squashed me like a bug. He could of, and maybe should have thumped me in the forehead for my arrogance, for my pride and for my own rebellion. But….he didn’t. He kindly showed me who I was, more importantly, who He was.
In 2 Peter 3:9 it says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Now, almost 25 years later, I am learning more and more about the Lord’s kindness, his patience and his faithfulness. I am OH so grateful that he rescued me from sin and death. I am immensely grateful for the Lord’s abundant kindness to me.
Questions:
Who is someone that you have been praying for to come to the Lord? Don’t give up on them. Keep praying for them. Pray for them now and pray that the Lord will remove any roadblock or hinderance that might be in their way.
How has the Lord shown his kindness to you?
What are ways he has drawn you to himself? Think back to your own salvation story. Find someone this week to share it with.
Worship:
- Deliverance by Gateway Church
- Hope Has a Name by River Valley Worship
