The Dumbest Man?

There aren*t many people dumber about the Lord than I was for 43 years. I heard the gospel countless times between the ages of about 4 and 14 years of age. I resisted it most of the time. There were a few times I tried to respond to it in wrong ways. I tried to respond to it in ways that were my compromises. The Lord didn*t want to save me in my way so I didn*t want to hear from him any more. When I was about 14 years old I told my mother that I didn*t want to go to church any more because I slept better in bed. I broke her heart. I didn*t care. Since I have been saved others have broken my heart in that same way. It is ironic that God*s dealings with us are so fitting and fair. Salvation is of the Lord.

Jonah 2:9: But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Salvation is exclusively of the Lord. Salvation is exclusively by the Lord. If anyone else or anything else contributed to it, it wouldn*t be exclusively of the Lord. If it doesn*t happen in His way and in His time it doesn*t happen at all. He is in charge of the whole process. If He weren*t in charge of the whole process the process would not save.

When I was 43 years old the Lord saved me His way. It wasn*t in a way that I chose. It wasn*t in a time that I chose. It was a take-it-or-leave-it offer. He had even prepared me ahead of time to trust Him at that moment rather than trusting myself by showing me my weakness and need for Him. He showed me my weakness and need for Him through many failures and disappointments in my life. It took 43 years for me to be ripe and ready. It took 43 years of God*s work with me and on me and in me for me to be ripe and ready.

The Lord has given me a delightful preaching ministry, primarily in nursing homes. I have heard many prayers of commitment to Christ in that ministry. I believe that ministry has been fruitful because the older folk in the nursing homes identified with me because of my middle age salvation. Many of them have been given an old age salvation. Some have received Christ when they were over 90 years old. I can*t say that they were dumber than me but they were dumb for a longer time. I believe that one of God*s purposes for my middle age salvation was to minister to these older folk.

I am very thankful to Him for now giving me the ministry of these Bible Topics and some other ministries to people of all ages. I believe that it was all a mosaic created by Him. Salvation is so totally from Him that He even chooses the work he wants us to do for Him after we are saved.

Ephesians 2:8-10: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Lord help me to walk in all of the good works which you have ordained for me.

During those 43 years when I was unsaved I saw Christ especially in my mother and my grandmother, but also in many pastors and other strong Christians. They loved me more than non-Christians and I knew it and I enjoyed it. But sometimes I also rejected that love. It frightened me. It was firm and unshakable. I was afraid it might change me and I didn*t want to be changed.

If I had been saved at any time earlier than I was, I would not have had access to the wonderful Bible teaching or ministry I have received since then. Without that teaching I probably would have been a spiritually under-nourished Christian, a luke-warm Christian, an unfruitful Christian. I now have many reasons to believe that God saved me at exactly the right time and for some very exact purposes of His.

I believe that I have now established that I was certainly among the dumbest people (about God) that He has ever saved. You may be interested in the article entitled The Dumbest Man In The Bible.

Care to discuss The Dumbest Man? with Ron?

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