When God calls

I'm currently reading a very interesting book that compares Calvinism and Arminianism. The book is Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities by Roger Olson, a professor of theology at George W. Truett Seminary. He is one of today's leading Armenian theologians and wrote the book to help people better understand the differences between these two theological systems. It is slow reading but quite informative. Last night I read the following passage.

"From the Armenian perspective grace restores free will so that humans, for the first time, have the ability to do otherwise - namely, respond in faith to the grace of God or resist it in unrepentance and disbelief. At the point of God's call, sinners under the influence of prevenient grace have genuine free will as a gift of God; for the first time they can freely say yes or no to God."

This wasn't anything I didn't already know, but it took me back to the time I was saved. For years I had been enjoying life. I believed there was a God, but in many ways I lived as if He didn't exist. A couple of things happened that brought me to take a closer look at my life and my relationship to God.

I was working in a factory, often seven days a week. Our eight-year-old daughter attended Vacation Bible School that summer due to the generosity of a neighbor who took her. On Friday I came home from work, and at the dinner table she told me that day at VBS she had asked Jesus Christ into her life. The pastor told her that if she was serious she needed to come to church Sunday and make a public profession of her faith. I was scheduled to work that Sunday, but when my wife asked what I was going to do I said I guessed I would go to church. When the invitation was given, she never hesitated but walked to the front of the church.

At the same time, I found myself in trouble for some decisions I had made. I was facing possible legal problems if I didn't make amends, and time was running out. I admit I was scared. Some people I worked with were committed Christians, and I asked them if they had any material on faith. I kept thinking if I had enough faith I could get this problem resolved. I read everything they brought me!

One day I found myself alone in our mobile home. The pressure was getting to me. I know now that pressure was God calling me to Him. I got on my knees in front of my chair and prayed asking God to come into my life. Of course, He did.

That wasn't the first time God had ever reached out to me, but that was the first time I was ready to receive His grace. I've wished a thousand times I had done so earlier in life, but it took those two events to help prepare me to accept God's amazing grace. That happened back in the late 1970s, but reading a passage in a book in 2020 made it all seem like it was just yesterday.

I've often preached that we need to be ready to reach out to people when the windows of opportunity are open. My window that summer was wide open. Those windows are open the widest when someone is going through a difficult time as I was. Two events: my daughter's salvation and my own pain prepared me to hear God's call on my life.

I encourage you to look for hurting people and tell them about the grace of God. Maybe you will help them experience the same thing I did in my living room.