Sunday, December 9, 2012

What a man desires is unfailing love; Proverbs 19:22a

I went downtown yesterday in hopes of finding a brother in Christ on the streets who needed encouragement.  I found one.  I'll call him Steve.

He grew up as the older of three brothers.  They went to church and had a pretty normal childhood.  Until he was about ten years old.  His dad was unfaithful and left the mom with the children.  This caused Steve to hate men for quite some time.  His mother was a strong woman, having been raised on a farm in Wyoming.  She taught her boys to be tough.

As I was talking to him, and listening to him, I hadn't yet had the opportunity to find out about his relationship with the Lord.  About 15 minutes into our conversation, a street pastor that he knew walked up on us and joined the conversation.  I didn't wait much longer before asking Steve if he had ever asked Jesus to be his Savior.  He had.

After more discussion, I realized the problem he was having was understanding who he was in Christ, and what that meant.  He didn't know about God's unfailing love for him as a result of his being included in Christ.  So the pastor and I talked to him for a while concerning this, sharing pertinent Scripture with him, and he was being encouraged. 

A few minutes later, a young lady and her boyfriend walked by us.  She posed for her boyfriend to take a picture, and Steve noticed what was written on her t-shirt:  His love endures forever.  Steve was getting the hint.  God was pursuing him.  Not to make him His own, he already was.  But to help Steve to understand what was already true.  God's love for him was unfailing.

I know this experience will turn out well for Steve.  God has already shown me what He can do in a person's life when that person comes to realize the promises we have in Christ.  And the most important promise all of God's children have is His unfailing love.