Beginnings

A couple of months ago I had the honor of being present when a student prayed to place his trust in Christ for his salvation. It was a moment I'll never forget; a sheer pleasure to be present to witness somebody become fully restored to his creator. It's moments like this that I live for.

Over the next several weeks this student and I have met frequently to talk about what it means to have this new relationship with Jesus and this new life. What I love about this guy is that he is so sincere and deeply hungry to grow in this relationship. He trusts us because we consistently tell him not to just believe what we say, but to read the Bible to check our words against the Bible. His questions are genuine and his sincerity is obvious. Like I said, it's been a pleasure to work with him to teach him more about Jesus and see his life change every week. 

I also experienced life change recently. My son was born to us in March and life is totally different. Every morning is like Christmas, I don't know what to expect next from our little boy. This morning when I got out of bed he and his mom had been up for a little while. When I walked in he looked at me,  puzzled at first, then when I spoke he broke into a huge smile, then looked at his mom then back to me. He recognizes my voice and my face and it delights him! No one could ever have explained to me how wonderful it feels to have your child respond to you like that. 

Seeing my son grow and develop is a lot like seeing my new friend and follower of Christ grow in his relationship with God.

This week we celebrated the fact that our son rolled over for the first time. He's 4 months old and this was his first roll, we were pretty excited about that. We didn't frown at him and say, "Come on, now get up, get that soccer ball and juggle it like Ronaldo."That would be absurd to expect a 4 month old to develop that quickly. Instead we get to celebrate every new thing; whether it be a first step, tooth or word we celebrate with him.

I feel the same way with my friend. We celebrate every small step. When we meet together he's usually smoking a cigarette and it's usually late in the afternoon or evening because he's been up all night before playing in his heavy rock band. In Russia those might preclude one from being a Christian (at least culturally), but he doesn't know that yet. He's sincere in his faith and desires to know Jesus more. That's more important to me than pretense so I don't bring it up. If God wants him to stop those things he'll tell him through the Holy Spirit when he's ready. Until then I'll keep pointing him to Jesus trusting God to do the rest.

When we meet we usually sit down, open up the scriptures and talk about what it means to be loved by God and how that changes our lives. If I opened up the Bible and began to talk with him about the dialectical presence of scripture or transubstantiation that would be over his head and a waste of time. It would be the equivalent of me telling my 4 month old to juggle a soccer ball.  Instead we talk about the basics and soak that up. When he gets something for the first time we celebrate that.

This is the first time in a while that I've discipled a brand new believer. I'm consistently encouraged by the joyous truths of the basics of our faith. God loves this guy, God sent his son to die for him when he was still an enemy of God, God raised his son from the dead, God has invited him to join the trinity in the eternal dance of celebration...and I get to watch and dance with them. 

A new life is an amazing thing to be a part of. Thank God that he celebrates every small step, every roll over, every new epiphany with us. What a good father we have.