A few weeks ago my Stepson, Scott, left this world at the young age of 39, way too early for anyone to leave this life.
Many of you know that Scott had his problems in life and led a life that wasn’t good for him or those around him. He worried his Mother day and night. His Mother and I spent many nights searching for him, because he hadn’t been home for days or weeks and we didn’t know if he was high on drugs, passed out in a room from too much alcohol, or dead in a ditch because he wronged some other person.
Scott was raised like the rest of our five children. He was taken to church twice on Sunday and even once in the middle of the week. I have no idea why he came out so different from our other kids. He was so rebellious that as he became an adult, he was against everything that we stood for.
In reality, Scott knew what was right, he wanted to hold on to God, but live as close to the world as he could. Often times the world had more hold on him than God did. He lived a wild rough life, but ultimately paid a heavy price for his lifestyle. Dying at 39 is not something that any parent wants for their child.
So, now we come to a serious thought. Scott’s race was ugly. His life left little evidence of a
Christian life, yet as a child he ask Jesus to be his Savior. As his wayward life led him to jail for quite a long sentence, he once again found his way back to his Savior. Scott still had his demons, but I think he was at least trying at this point. Still his race was ugly.
Finally his ugly race ended leading us to another question. I was raised in a Pentecostal church where anything you did could cause you to backslide and lose your salvation. I often had intense discussions with my Baptist friends who believed the polar opposite that no matter what you did after accepting Jesus you would be saved. I’m now older and I believe more mature and have an understanding that the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Fortunately Scott found his way back to church before he passed away and was striving to live for the Lord. Here’s my serious thought. Just how far does the Grace of God go to save a struggling man or woman. Though Scott had only been back in a relationship with the Lord for a short time I believe that Grace came through. Scripture says that if you raise a child in the way he should go, when he is older he will not depart from it. That is God’s Grace. That is our blessed hope as parents. That is how I saw God’s Grace in Scott’s life. His race was ugly, but he won the race.
Today I thank God for His loving patience and Grace.
Perhaps today you have a child who is rebellious, deliberately living a life opposed to what you have taught them all of their life. It seems every family has one or maybe even more of those children.
Hold on. Keep holding them up in prayer. Don’t give up. God isn’t finished with them yet.
