Saved So Young

Hello, dear girls! [This is Day #150 of emailing daily, by the way!]

Tonight I'm reading from Psalm 69-71.

"O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸ So even to old age and gray hairs,
    O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come."

You and I have the immense privilege of being raised in Christian homes and having been saved early in life. If only we fully understood and appreciated the years of grief we've been spared by having such a wonderful start! It is, of course, not a default that we can just "coast along" through life on our parents' coattails of faith; no, we have to sweat and bleed and work and feel the pain of claiming the cross of Christ as our own. At the end of the day, it is each of us, alone, in the Colosseum, dared to deny our Lord. No wimpy church-camp religion here, girls. But at the same time, we have been given the gift of a Lamp to our paths so early in the journey, the right Word of truth to guide us from all lies--think of all those people out stumbling in the world, unable to discern truth from error, unsure of which way is right, weak and unfit for any battle! What a long road they have. And those who are saved later in life, after sowing seeds of sin in their earlier years, they reap the grievous harvest not only in this life, but the next: think of the spouses or children who will not be among the redeemed. Entire families who turn against the one believer and persecute their own kin with a vengeance (think of the Christians who come to the truth amidst a system like Islam!). Their lives are hard.

Be grateful for what you have been given--a faith that claimed you while you were so young, and a life that stretches out before you, even into your silver-haired years, a life of joyful submission, service, freedom, comfort and assurance beneath the banner of the salvation of God through Jesus Christ. Use this gift wisely, and do not waste your young years in comfort and indifference. Spend them stocking up on spiritual wisdom and knowledge, cultivating the fruits of the Spirit, and learning more and more about the character of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. Then go out into the fields, which are white for harvest. Be strong. Strengthen yourselves, not bodily, for the body is wasting away and growing older only to die and decay, but rather strengthen yourselves spiritually--for your soul shall not die, but live eternally in the presence of the great and wondrous King! Gloria!