Early in my senior
year of high school, when I was 17, a casual conversation
started a series of changes in my life. I worked in a gas station
near my
home. One day I was talking to a customer about some of the girls
I knew at
school. Now this guy was an older guy, well known and successful,
but he
always talked to me just like I was as important as anyone else.
As we
talked that day he said, "If you want to meet a nice girl,
go to church."
Well, I had gone to church from the time I was a little kid until
I finished
8th grade. My family didn't go, but my mom took me, and sometimes
my
brothers. But for the past few years I hadn't been to church.
I thought
about what he said but didn't do anything about it right away.
One day a month or so later, the preacher from a little church
a mile or so
from my house came calling in our neighborhood. Now that was something
that
had never happened before in all the 11 or 12 years we had lived
there.
Interesting, I thought, last month this guy tells me that I might
meet a
nice girl in church. Now this other guy is here inviting us to
come to his
church. Well, I didn't have any reason to pick one church or another,
so I
figured his church would do as well as any. So I decided to go
to church and
look for a girl.
Now you might be thinking that doesn't really seem like the right
reason to
go to church. You're right. But I wasn't thinking of that back
then. It
seemed like as good a reason as any to me. So I went. Well, God
had things
in the proper order. My first Sunday in that church, I heard the
Gospel for
the first time. I said I had spent many years going to church.
But see, the
church I had gone to told us some Bible stories, and we prayed
some, and
there were sermons about being kind and such, but never had I
heard the main
news in the New Testament.
You see, the Gospel, which is the heart of the message God sent
to us in the
New Testament, is simply that God loves us and wants to eliminate
the sin in
our lives which keeps us separate from Him. He sent Christ, born
of a
virgin, and living without sin, to be sacrificed for us so that
we might
personally know God and that His Spirit will actually live inside
us.
Well, as I said, this was all new to me, but it made sense. I
kept attending
that church, and before long, I understood that I needed to talk
to God. I
needed to tell Him that I would accept His gift of forgiveness
for all my
sins. That is what Christians call salvation. When Christ died,
His
sacrifice opened up our way to God. When He rose again and went
to heaven,
He showed God's promise of our eternal life with Him. And once
you have
received Christ as Savior, God's Holy Spirit comes to us and stays
with us
always.
When we deal with the hard things in life, He is with us. When
we mess up,
He will always forgive us again when we ask. If we let Him have
charge of
our lives (that's called making Him Lord of our lives), He will
guide us
into the best possible things for us. Which reminds me; I did
meet a girl in
that church. I met her about a month after I became a Christian.
We soon
started to date, and a couple of years later, she became my wife.
Like I
said, I went to church for the wrong reason, but God knew what
He was doing,
and He kept things in the proper order. First I found Him, then
I found my
future wife.
I urge you to think about your life. Where are you going? What
is your
source of security? Any one of us could die tomorrow, or be seriously
injured, perhaps paralyzed or badly burned. Would life still have
meaning if
this happened to you. I have been very fortunate in life. I have
never had a
serious injury and I am in good health. But I have had lots of
friends,
including lots of teenage friends, who have suffered injury, severe
illness,
or died. Some of them were Christians and were ready for what
came to them.
Some weren't. What about you?
You can accept God's gift right now, even as you sit here at your
computer.
All you need to do is talk to Him. Tell him you realize that you
have been
separated from Him by sin (for we have all sinned). Thank Him
for sending
Christ to die for your sins, and tell Him you are ready to accept
that gift.
Finally, ask Him to send His Spirit to you to live inside you
forever.
That's it. It only takes about one minute, but in that minute
your life will
be changed forever.
If you have accepted God's salvation through Jesus Christ, your
next step is
to find a local church where the Gospel is taught. In most communities
there
will be several good churches. Find one with an active youth group
and get
involved. If there is a Youth for Christ or Campus Crusade group
in your
school or community, attend their meetings. Meet and make friends
with other
Christians, young and old. From there God will lead you to a secure
and
joyous life.
***
For help or more information on the web, look at some of our other
Teen
Mountain Spiritual Peak links, or email the_encourager.geo@yahoo.com.
God
bless you.
Other testimonies >>> David... Heidi ... Sarah ... Nicole
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This page last modified on 6/26/99