When I was 12 or 13, I would join my buddies who were usually a little older, in their ridiculing “the saints” as we called them. When a Christian little group during the summer came to our playground to have an open-air meeting with their guitars, singing and testimonies I disdained them, and when I one day saw my younger sister standing there and sang with the saints, I was about to make fun with her to impress my buddies. One of the guys rebuked me and said, “Don´t, Jørn, she´s religious!” And I remember how ashamed I was of myself. However, less than two years after I became one of those “saints” too, and now it was as if the Lord whispered to me, “You didn´t know better”. He said something similar to Paul, for he said, “I had acted ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Tim. 1:13) Over the years I have known Christian mixed up youth concerning the romance of love. I had the joy of baptizing a couple of girls at one of our beautiful coasts. One was a spiritual child of mine, and on the onset such youth is apparently sensitive towards the Lord. Then a mistaken romance crept in, and I warned my “child” against being unequally yoked with an unbeliever, and she knew that word, but persisted to have her way. Some may still succeed in a business career, and may even go to church. But the spiritual intimacy and power had gone. One young woman said to me, “I wish I had listened to you…” – I have known talented men, too, equipped with eloquence and a burning fervor, but later ruined their testimony because of adultery. One happened to be a close relative , and I remember how I wished I had his oratorical gift and charm, but oh no. Back to the youth. Many didn´t know better. They meant it so well, but were sadly mistaken. However, there is such a thing as forgiveness, and I praise the Lord for that word and for the abundance of it (Read Rom. 5:20). The Lord Jesus has taught me to love what He loves and hate what He hates, but I´ve also known Him as the embodiment of endless forgiveness and grace. I´m still learning to know Him that way as I meet lost people who like myself don´t know better. April 21, 2020 - jn
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