I have always wondered why God chose to rescue me when He did. He waited until I had become the antithesis of righteousness and was literally dripping with evil before He drew me to Him to be rescued. Was His timing accomplished for a specific purpose?
I believe so. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 2:29: Then He said to me “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
I think this verse may hold at least a partial answer to my question. I say partial because God loves us all and the Bible is clear that He doesn’t want anyone to perish and that included me, but I do think that this verse exemplifies another deeper meaning as to the timing of my salvation in waiting until I had sunken to the bottom and was as weak as they come.
First I would state that God was not talking about my weakness in the context of adding perfection to His “power”, because God is already perfect in every sense and His power is already perfect in itself. The verse is not a contradiction because I believe the meaning is, that the strength and power of Christ is made to appear and shine forth in its perfection and glory through our weaknesses and that is how it manifests itself for all to see.
I have often said that my autobiography Miracle on Luckie Street is not a book about me, but of the power of God to transform someone’s life no matter how far a person might have sunk. It is a stark reminder that we should never give up on anyone for it is never too late for God and no task is too big for Him.
In James 2:22 it also exemplifies how faith and action on our parts should work together. It states You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. This tells us that if we have faith and will accompany that faith with action we can be saved and make our faith complete. We can also act in sharing our testimony. In the case of witnessing to others we shouldn’t keep our salvation a tightly held secret, but act on it and use it to lead others to Christ to glorify Him and His power.
Hmmm… Paul states that he would gladly “boast of his weakness” in order that God’s power would shine through Him. I’m sure he wasn’t proud of what he’d become, but he did it for the Lord.
I’ve often been asked why I was willing to write such a tell-all book and subject myself and my family to humiliation. While some might look at it in that light, I look at it as Paul does. He did not set himself up as some goody two shoes, perfect in every way. He was weak and had done BAD things in rounding up and martyring Christians and having them stoned to death such as Stephen, but Christ dramatically changed all of that on the road to Damascus and he went on to become (in my mind) the greatest Apostle of all, offering hope to all generations – forever.
I’ve always said that if I could turn my life around through God, anyone can! And anyone who has read my book would readily agree and that gives others hope. Paul’s message is identical. The power of God is unlimited and it is a stark reminder of my life’s verse in Philippians 4:13 where it boldly tells us that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.
In my Sunday school class this past Sunday one of the men said he initially went to prison ministry for the first time more out of a sense of obligation than a concern for lost souls. He was not too thrilled about it and felt that these criminals were getting what they deserved and questioned whether or not he should even waste his time on them. His heart changed when he saw the eagerness to find the Lord on their faces and he realized that they were after all just human beings in need of the same saving grace of the Lord that the rest of the world needs.
I mentioned to the class that as a platform speaker for the Bill Glass Champions for Life prison ministry I’ve worked alongside some formerly nasty characters including even a former member of the Charles Manson family and of course the infamous Jewel thief “Murf the Surf” who was serving multiple life sentences and was connected to two murders.
They and thousands of other prisoners had their road to Damascus moment through prison ministry and ultimately went from committing unspeakable crimes to utter devotion of their entire lives to the Lord. I can personally attest that they now work tirelessly to spread the word of God all over the world. Indeed over one million of Jack Murphy’s translated books about his miraculous conversion were distributed to every prison in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet empire. (It was the one and only book ever allowed into those prisons.) Imagine the hope for those tortured souls. Imagine how many who might not otherwise have heard of God’s power would be lost if it had not been for his testimony and effort.
It is my hope that you too will share your road to Damascus moment with someone today and thereby be a part of perfecting the power of God by illuminating it for others to see. Don’t be ashamed to mention the name of Jesus Christ when amongst your friends, (even if you are at a cocktail party or a board meeting).
If you are a true friend you will want them to be encouraged at what God has done for you. It will not be lost on them that if God would help you, He will surely help them as well.
John 3:16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”