It’s always a mystery to me how God brings people from a spiritual Egypt (slavery) to the Promised Land through Jesus. It’s been a mystery to me because each person seems to have a different exodus experience. For some it seems like they need all ten plagues to hit their lives before they look up and give up in surrender to Christ. Others only need 3 or 4 plagues. Still others hear God’s plague warning for the first time (either in an experience or through the preaching of the Gospel) and never have to endure a painful plague before they turn to Jesus. I believe Steven is one of those guys on plague number 7.
Jail, drugs, grand theft auto, broken relationships, working a minimum wage job into his 30’s, still living with his parents; all of these things have described Steven’s life thus far, and these are just the things I know about. Some days are better for him than others. There are days when he would rather not live. Other days there are enough positive things happening around him to keep his spirits high for a while. Thankfully, Steven is slowly beginning to see that the straight and narrow path of Jesus is the way to life. He tried his own way for a while and found it wanting.
From my end of Steven’s journey, his exodus is far too slow! I want Steven to just “get it”. I want him to realize that it is Jesus Christ or nothing. I want him to drop every evil way that once brought him an ounce of pleasure and pound of pain and never again contemplate them. I feel like he is so close. An elderly customer approached him at work recently and asked him if he had a church. He said, “Yes, the Brunswick Church of Christ is my church and Shaun is my Pastor”. When he told me this I thought to myself, “Huh? You come to church once every 6 weeks and I have known you for less than a year. How have you concluded that we are your church and I am your Pastor?” He makes me chuckle.
I pray for Steven. I want him to understand the Gospel of Jesus. I want him to lasso the Gospel’s implications for his life. But I can’t force him further than he is. I can open the Scriptures with him. I can share with him Matthew 7:26-27:
"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
I can persuade him. I can counsel him. I can let him know that if he keeps toying with evil he will die. However, I can’t make him repent and be baptized. The reality is that he may need a few more plagues in his life before he turns to Jesus for good. And so I will pray for him.
At least I know this: when God draws Steven for the last time, he has a church he will turn to and a “Pastor” he will call. Please pray,
- That God will have the patience to bring Steven to repentance, and
- That Steven will listen to the plagues he has already seen in his life and begin building his life around Jesus.
