Restoration
I was called to preach at the age of 15. I will never forget my calling and how I handled it- I RAN! I had no desire to preach or do ministry work. I wanted to play basketball the rest of my life or be a barber. However, after three months of running from God I could run no longer. I got to the point where I could not sleep, could not eat, basically I could not do or enjoy anything. I knew God was calling and I was going to have to answer.
It was scary stepping out as a teenager and committing my life to ministry. I was fortunate though. I had a pastor that supported me and gave me an opportunity to preach. I remember my first opportunity. It was on a Wednesday night and I was scared to death. I wondered what I had gotten into. As the time came for me to preach I somehow made it to the pulpit and strung together a 19 minute sermon. I am pretty sure it was really just about 5 minutes long and the other 14 minutes were a repeat and me trying to figure out how to end the message.
An amazing thing happened. My pastor stood up after I was done speaking and encouraged me and showed his support for me. Nearly 17 years later I had the opportunity to repay the kindness. Several years after my first preaching opportunity my pastor and mentor left the ministry. There is not enough time to share what happened, but I saw first hand how Satan can use good, well meaning people to destroy another man and his ministry. This week I had lunch with my pastor and asked him if he was doing any ministry. He said not really. I asked him if he still had the passion and desire and he said OH YES!
I then asked him THE question- I asked him if he would be willing to come along side me and get back into ministry. I told him that God was not done with him and that God still wanted to use him on some level. He broke down crying right in front of me. I could tell a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He longed for the opportunity but very few people in Christian circles will forgive a minister who goes through a divorce. (His divorce came some time after leaving the ministry).
My problem, is that it’s God’s place to ultimately forgive and I cant find in the Bible where God gives up on people who still long to serve Him. Moses was a murder, Abraham a liar, David a murder and adulterer, Paul a murder and persecutor of Christians, and the the disciples were basically idiots. God took all these sinners and still used them for His glory. Why is it that so mnay Christians today do not believe in similar reconcilation and restoration? Yes there is always punishment and consequences for sin but I believe God can bring restoration and I believe we as Christians should not shoot our army but try to restore them. Try to restore them to a place where God can use them for His glory and where they can still do ministry although it may be in a different level than before.
2 Cor. 5:18-19 (NLT), And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
