A Call for Change
By Sandy Holden[1]
We are a people that love comfort. It is to what we have become accustomed. Having comfort was not common throughout
history past, it is not common for many in our world now, and it is likely that
it will not be common in the future.
However, the biblical message is not generally
one of comfort. The prophets did not
forecast calm, but storm. They did not
say that “All is well in the world.” In
fact, Jesus would not have needed to come as our Savior if all had been right
in the world. The prophets consistently
spoke out saying “Repent, repent.”
Man is sinful by birth, because sin came into
the world when Adam and Eve sinned, which was the point of singularity (inception
of sin), and it has expanded since that time.
The world is not getting better, it is getting worse moment by
moment. From the point of singularity,
sin can do no other than to expand; thus, making the natural condition of man’s
heart one of depravity.
Surely I was sinful
at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 51:5
[F] for all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, . . . Romans 3:23
Because God is holy and cannot be around sin,
man was destined to eternal death.
Fathers shall not be
put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers;
each is to die for his own sin.
Deuteronomy 24:16
Repentance is a change of mind and heart that
leads to a change of life. I received the
call to repent from my sin in November 1972.
This was a personal decision that I made uniquely at the same time that
my husband made his decision for which I am eternally grateful. We discussed our desire to be saved and
agreed to separately pray our own prayer at the same time. Three months later very little in our life
circumstances was the same.
This decision was of supreme importance to
me/us as it was our only hope. We could
not do for ourselves what Jesus had done for us on the cross. We were sinful creatures that needed the way
provided for us by our Creator God.
My husband was a full-time student taking 21
units a semester (year-around) while working 48 hours a week as a security
guard to support our family. We had one
hour a day together and Sundays. I was a
stay-at-home mom with two little boys ages 4 ½ and 3. He was exhausted, and I was sad and
lonely. We knew that things were not right. God sent two people into our lives to tell us
of our need. One was a long-time friend
of Doug’s who was traveling through town on his way to go to seminary in
Tennessee. He was witnessing to people
and baptizing them along the way. He
spoke to us about the end times, which was something that was never discussed
in our previous church experiences. The
other was Doug’s sister who came across town every Thursday evening to have
Bible Study with me and several of our neighbors. She repeatedly told me to tell Doug that we
were not saved, and in order to be saved we must repent of our sin and ask
Jesus into our hearts. Just like Noah,
Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, these people were the voices telling us to
repent.
The Holy Spirit was simultaneously convicting
us so that we were able to be saved at the same time. What a precious, precious gift that has been
to us over the years. We have been so richly
blessed!
We know that the Lord used our circumstances
at the time to get our attention in order to point out our need for Him. Once we had given ourselves over to Him, He
changed many of our circumstances and blessed us through those changes. It was after our salvation that I went to work
at the private college that Doug attended which allowed him to go to school
tuition free. Then, I also worked at the
private law school he attended and we received a 50% tuition discount. The hard part for me was leaving our young
boys in the care of others. But, God
even provided for us through this painful experience as we found our new church
home at the church-based day care provided for our sons.
There is purpose to living out our lives
according to the plan of our Creator. While
the message is one of storm, there is also a message of hope and even comfort. Sometimes God blesses His children with the
kind of comfort that they desire, but there is a greater comfort. I did not get the comfort that I desired to
stay home with our children during those years of sacrifice, but I knew that we
were in our Lord’s will. And, this
comfort did bring peace.
May your unfailing
love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant. Psalm 119:76
Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of
all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those
in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
This hope comes through the blood of Jesus
Christ. God sacrificed His own Son, so
that man could be redeemed. He loved His
creation so much that He came to earth as a defenseless baby. He changed for us by becoming one of His
creation; one of us. Who, but Holy God,
would even think of doing such a thing!
What is going on in the world is not where
it’s at. God calls us to change.
From that time on
Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Matthew 4:17
I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all
perish. Luke 13:3
As
the prophet Amos would say, “Prepare to meet your God . . . The Lord God
Almighty is his name.”
[1]
Sandra K.
Holden is pursuing her Master of Arts in Christian Studies degree with a major
in Biblical Counseling with IABC Certification from Master’s International
School of Divinity.
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