Who among us does not stand in need of repentance for the many things that we have done wrong to offend God and cause His Spirit to withdraw from us in times past or even now in this present day? These are the sins of commission. And then, there are also the sins of omission . . . those good things that we have known we ought to do but have not chosen to do.
Even so, Heavenly Father loves us, and His arms are outstretched still in hope that we will come unto Him through repentance and the atoning sacrifice of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. So great is our need to be forgiven on a day to day basis that our heartfelt prayers might well be expressed in these words:
"Oh God of second chances, here I am again."
The gospel net is capable of catching the great and the small of God's children here on earth; and we have a sacred responsibility as missionaries to share without judgment the good news of the Gospel with anyone who is willing to listen to our message. Who would have believed that Saul of Tarsus, an enemy to the early Christian Church, would be chosen by the Savior Himself to become the Apostle Paul?
We are currently teaching a man and his wife who have virtually no background experience with either the holy scriptures or any church. They have three young children all under the age of 7, are financially destitute, and spiritually impoverished. The father has stage four cancer, and the prospects for his survival through his health crisis are not promising. He sadly admits that through past years opportunities existed for him to learn of Christ, and he ignored them. Now, his situation is precarious, time appears to grows short, and this man becomes more and more concerned for the future well-being of his family.
His wife who is many years junior to her husband's age is almost child-like in her comprehension of the truths that we patiently teach in our lessons. Frequently, she stops us to ask the meaning of a word that has just been read from the scriptures. There is no denying, however, that this young mother sincerely wants to know about Jesus Christ and the path to salvation.
We do not know how much time we have to prepare to meet God
COME UNTO JESUS
Come unto Jesus, ye heavy laden, careworn and fainting, by sin oppressed.
He'll safely guide you unto that haven where all who trust him may rest, may rest.
Come unto Jesus; He'll ever heed you, though in the darkness you've gone astray.
His love will find you and gently lead you from darkest night into day, to day.
Come unto Jesus; He'll surely hear you, if you in meekness plead for his love.
Oh, know you not that angels are near you from brightest mansions above, above.
Come unto Jesus from every nation, from every land and isle of the sea.
Unto the high and lowly in station, ever he calls, "Come to me, to me."
- Orson Pratt Huish (1851-1932)
For this family there is a sense of urgency as Sister Lindsay and I do our best to prepare this couple for baptism before the effects of the disease and the treatments being employed to combat it overwhelm the man's ability to complete the requirements necessary for this ordinance to be performed. We earnestly pray that, if it is the Lord's will, there will still be time for him to enter the waters of baptism.
No comments:
Post a Comment