12/21/12 Steve about 20
Today
at the grocery store I asked a young man named Steve whether he believes he
will go to heaven. He does not. I asked why – “Because I haven’t gotten saved
yet” “How can a person “get saved”? I
asked. “I need to trust Jesus as my Savior” he
said. Further questions confirmed to me
that this isn’t just a cliché’ to him, that he really understands that Jesus is
the Son of God, sacrificed on the cross in place of the just penalty we deserve
for our sins. He believes those who
trust Jesus are saved from hell, but readily admits that he is not. Steve grew up Pentecostal, and told me that
all his family, his wife and his son are “saved”, except for him. Why? “I
know the consequences, and I know tomorrow is not promised, but I’m just not
ready yet” he told me. He understood and
accepted responsibility for his own sinful choices, and claimed he had no overwhelming
sinful habit keeping him from following Jesus. He prays regularly and seemed to
have no bitterness or animosity toward God. As far as I could tell, the only thing keeping
him from “getting saved” was procrastination.
I told him how I felt about my own experience of coming to faith in
Christ. “I felt like Lazarus, waking up
from the dead there in the tomb. The
stone had been rolled away, sunlight is streaming in, and Jesus is outside
telling me to get up and come out. The
only choice I had to make was when I would do so. I had already come to life. It was only a matter of time before I would
come out of that tomb” I told him this
because it seemed like Steve had already come to faith, but he just needs to
move forward with it. Many people
believe they are Christians when they really are not, but is it possible to
believe you are not a Christian when you really are? Steve seemed to fit that description. God has
already given him a good amount of faith.
I just pray its saving faith.
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