and considering this isn't "The Puritan Pub" - we'll make it a grape juice toast
When have you been encouraged, taught, rebuked, discipled, etc. by a believer's gracious living? Not necessarily by their words or teachings, or by anything in which they intend to show themselves as an example, but in just plainly living out a life a grace?
I just wanted to hear others' experiences, because in prayer tonight I was reminded of a young woman named Carla that had this impact on me many years ago, and looking back on her example, God both rebuked and greatly encouraged me. This all happened when I was a freshman in high school and she was a senior. I was quite the unregenerate at the time, but had grown up in church and "knew" the gospel.
At our cross-country practices she would always be with the girls that were slowest....and then after everybody had gone home, she would stay and run that same practice distance at a pace more fitting for her (that is, blazing fast ). Never once can I remember anything but a smile on her face. She was almost frustrating to talk to because she would NEVER talk about herself; she always kept her concerns and conversations centered around others.
On one race day, the course consisted of 2 huge loops. Obviously, with her being one of the fastest runners in the state, Carla actually lapped someone near the end of her second loop about a half mile before the finish line. Another girl had twisted her ankle on her first lap. Carla stopped and let the girl lean on her as they both walked in slowly. This other runner was from our school's hated rival, and Carla went from 1st to worse than 20th because of helping this girl. She didn't seem to care one bit, and no pride or showiness was evident at all - and as it's one thing I hate most, I have a pretty keen sense for it.
When someone on our girls' team would have an awful race, and singlehandedly cost the team a few places in the final standings, she would talk with the girl with a humility and respect that I found unbelievable. It was not a false, "Oh, that's ok, you'll do better next time" type thing that she's obliged to do. You could tell that there was not one ounce of bitterness or disappointment in her eyes.
As a senior, she would befriend outcast freshman girls and take them under her wing and hang out with them. I could go on and on. But the point remains, even though I only really spoke with her maybe half a dozen times personally in high school, she was perhaps the most instrumental individual in God bringing me towards the faith. There was a purity in her, a grace, a calm and quiet spirit that was more powerful than any sermon I'd heard.
She was born to filthy stinking rich parents, to put it mildly, but the clothes she wore and the car she drove made that very hard to see. Though she's able to live the rest of her life on her parents money and never work a day till she dies, she hated knowing that was even an option. It wasn't. She is now working in an assisted living facility serving the very old and very sick, and is looking for a foreign missions opportunity doing that same work. It just blows my mind that this is a girl that grew up in a 10,000 sq. foot house (including a full-time butler!), and had every fleshly desire just sitting in front of her waiting to be indulged in. Yet she very happily gave it all up for the gospel. I'm still in awe at God's work in her.
She personified gentleness, humility, and love to me. There's a reason her life was so impacting on me - I was the opposite - a bully/jock filled with pride and fleshly lusts. I was hot stuff, in my own mind. No sermon could possibly penetrate my pride....I'd heard it all. I mentally kinda agreed with the Scriptures, but I never thought "this is really real" or has any relevance to my life. I'll just "believe" it and continue being who I was, a jerk. Her quiet, humble, contented life broke down any possible wall left in my heart towards Christ. Read this statement with grace on the soteriology , but she converted me without once preaching the gospel. I knew the gospel. She lived it. It really is that simple.
This, I suppose, can also be a great encouragement to the women on this board. I was the last person on earth that would have respected a woman's open exhortation for me to repent and believe. I was a chauvinist to the core, and too self-absorbed about my sports and academic accomplishments to listen to anyone. I didn't want anything to do with a woman that wasn't, um, "easy." Yet, God used one as the main instrument in bringing me to faith. God does indeed use the "weak" and "foolish" things of this world to shame the strong and wise.
I just wanted to share that with you all. God filled me with a special thankfulness for his grace through her tonight. So do you guys have any other examples of God sanctifying you in this way?
Soli Deo Gloria
[Edited on 3-15-2005 by smhbbag]
When have you been encouraged, taught, rebuked, discipled, etc. by a believer's gracious living? Not necessarily by their words or teachings, or by anything in which they intend to show themselves as an example, but in just plainly living out a life a grace?
I just wanted to hear others' experiences, because in prayer tonight I was reminded of a young woman named Carla that had this impact on me many years ago, and looking back on her example, God both rebuked and greatly encouraged me. This all happened when I was a freshman in high school and she was a senior. I was quite the unregenerate at the time, but had grown up in church and "knew" the gospel.
At our cross-country practices she would always be with the girls that were slowest....and then after everybody had gone home, she would stay and run that same practice distance at a pace more fitting for her (that is, blazing fast ). Never once can I remember anything but a smile on her face. She was almost frustrating to talk to because she would NEVER talk about herself; she always kept her concerns and conversations centered around others.
On one race day, the course consisted of 2 huge loops. Obviously, with her being one of the fastest runners in the state, Carla actually lapped someone near the end of her second loop about a half mile before the finish line. Another girl had twisted her ankle on her first lap. Carla stopped and let the girl lean on her as they both walked in slowly. This other runner was from our school's hated rival, and Carla went from 1st to worse than 20th because of helping this girl. She didn't seem to care one bit, and no pride or showiness was evident at all - and as it's one thing I hate most, I have a pretty keen sense for it.
When someone on our girls' team would have an awful race, and singlehandedly cost the team a few places in the final standings, she would talk with the girl with a humility and respect that I found unbelievable. It was not a false, "Oh, that's ok, you'll do better next time" type thing that she's obliged to do. You could tell that there was not one ounce of bitterness or disappointment in her eyes.
As a senior, she would befriend outcast freshman girls and take them under her wing and hang out with them. I could go on and on. But the point remains, even though I only really spoke with her maybe half a dozen times personally in high school, she was perhaps the most instrumental individual in God bringing me towards the faith. There was a purity in her, a grace, a calm and quiet spirit that was more powerful than any sermon I'd heard.
She was born to filthy stinking rich parents, to put it mildly, but the clothes she wore and the car she drove made that very hard to see. Though she's able to live the rest of her life on her parents money and never work a day till she dies, she hated knowing that was even an option. It wasn't. She is now working in an assisted living facility serving the very old and very sick, and is looking for a foreign missions opportunity doing that same work. It just blows my mind that this is a girl that grew up in a 10,000 sq. foot house (including a full-time butler!), and had every fleshly desire just sitting in front of her waiting to be indulged in. Yet she very happily gave it all up for the gospel. I'm still in awe at God's work in her.
She personified gentleness, humility, and love to me. There's a reason her life was so impacting on me - I was the opposite - a bully/jock filled with pride and fleshly lusts. I was hot stuff, in my own mind. No sermon could possibly penetrate my pride....I'd heard it all. I mentally kinda agreed with the Scriptures, but I never thought "this is really real" or has any relevance to my life. I'll just "believe" it and continue being who I was, a jerk. Her quiet, humble, contented life broke down any possible wall left in my heart towards Christ. Read this statement with grace on the soteriology , but she converted me without once preaching the gospel. I knew the gospel. She lived it. It really is that simple.
This, I suppose, can also be a great encouragement to the women on this board. I was the last person on earth that would have respected a woman's open exhortation for me to repent and believe. I was a chauvinist to the core, and too self-absorbed about my sports and academic accomplishments to listen to anyone. I didn't want anything to do with a woman that wasn't, um, "easy." Yet, God used one as the main instrument in bringing me to faith. God does indeed use the "weak" and "foolish" things of this world to shame the strong and wise.
I just wanted to share that with you all. God filled me with a special thankfulness for his grace through her tonight. So do you guys have any other examples of God sanctifying you in this way?
Soli Deo Gloria
[Edited on 3-15-2005 by smhbbag]