I just had to share this with everyone.
Last week an old friend of mine phoned me and said that he wanted to talk. We'd been friends for a very long time before my conversion and we stayed friends for a while afterwards. But soon it became clear that we had chosen different paths. We tried to speak to him about becoming a child of God, but he wasn't interested. He was convinced that, since he’d grown up in church, he was a child of God. His life didn’t show it and he fell into all sorts of sin.
We kinda lost touch, but we continued praying for him. Then, out of the blue, he phoned me last week (for the first time in a couple of years). And he wanted to get right with God! We met on Friday and spoke about this and that for a while. Then he got to the point: he didn’t know what to do anymore. He felt lost and knew he needed God. We then did a quick walk-through of Romans and showed him that he was lost, that he couldn’t save himself and that nothing he did would get him right with God. He needed a Savior. Then I explained how Christ’s death and life made salvation possible. I wish you could have seen his face. It was like a light went on and he said that it was the first time he understood the Gospel.
He then confessed his sins, put his faith in Him alone for his salvation and gave his life to Christ . Since then he’s joined me to church and we’ve talked a lot about walking with God. Everyone says that they can see the difference in his life. I can see it too. God has really changed him!
In all of this all the glory goes to God and God alone! "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Ps. 103:8). He gave grace to my friend, and in giving grace to him, I received grace as well. It made me appreciate my own salvation and reminded me of the power of the Word.
We now have a new brother in Christ. Please pray for him. And don’t give up on people, because God didn’t give up on you.