1 Peter 4: 3-5
The best part of the past is that maybe we have learned some
very expensive lessons we need not repeat. And the great thing about the future is if we have learned
from those bought lessons of the past, we may find the future brighter. However, is it not the present that
should be our focus? The past is memory, some good and some
not so good, and the future is just that, it’s out there, but it is impossible
to live in that state. That is the
message of verse three, but verse four tells us that many who have been part of
our past, want us to stay there, in fact the apostle Peter goes so far as to
say this, “With respect to this (referring
to the past when you engaged in the following; living in sensuality, passions,
drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.) they are surprised when you do not join them in the same
flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who
is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
I was 27 years old when Christ invaded my life; now let me
qualify that statement, I by faith asked Jesus into my life, but on that
invitation He changed many of my old patterns, many of my old desires. I no longer needed to drink beer or mix
drinks that I never liked, and had the freedom to order a Dr. Pepper or coke
when I went to a bar with the people I worked with. I experience being maligned; my not drinking made them
curious at first, then they began to criticize and at some point they preferred
that I not go out with them. I
wish it was because of my strong testimony of how Christ had changed my heart,
but that is just not true; at this point in time I was an underground
Christian, my light was so weak it would not have worked for a night light in
the bathroom, much less a light to guide someone to Christ.
This past summer at a get together with many who attended
high school with me, one of the ladies said your problem is that you have
always been so good. Wow, I was
lost for words, no one is good but God, and these thoughts entered my mind,
“Bob, that’s just wrong! You were a rascal from a young age; you stole flowers
from the neighbor’s yard at about three, and then peaches and plums. You learned to lie to your parents at a
very early age so that you could go places they would not allow. You took many of those practices into
your marriage, and also into the workplace. When I’m still before God, it is not goodness, it’s evil
that I see, not justice but mercy that I cry out for. My hearts desire is to let people see that Christ in me is
my hope, and as the sign my friend Jack Archer had on his mantel and I now have
on mine reads: “Smile you rascal, God knows all about you, yet He loves you
anyway.” I’m basking in that truth and my salvation from Him!
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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