Those of you who were in church on Sunday heard a letter written by one of our youth who has made some bad choices and and as a result of those choices is in juvenile hall. I think his letter was very courageous and it deeply affected me. We have all made bad choices and have done things we regret. The focus should not be on the mistake we made, but on what we will LEARN from those mistakes.
I remember being at a similar crossroad when I was a youth. I, too, made some bad choices and it got me arrested, put in jail and standing before a judge. I was not tried as a juvenile, but as an adult. I was only seventeen years old, but this crime was going to be on my record for the rest of my life. I was broken by my sin, embarrassed by what I had done and ashamed that my parent's name was involved. It was a very dark period for me as I found myself quite alone and friendless. I missed out on the events my classmates and friends were experiencing because of my crime.
Every criminal is given the opportunity to make restitution by the courts. That restitution may involve serving time in prison, a fine or community service. Restitution does not mean that we make the crime go away. It means that we do our best to make up for the wrongs we have done. We face up to our responsibility and pay society back. My restitution involved a financial obligation, curfew, driving restrictions, jail and other responsibilities. It was the turning point in my life. Up until then, I had been playing the church game: Act like a Christian at church and live like everyone else the rest of the time. I knew I was a hypocrite and embarrassing Christ, but I was too foolish to change. So Jesus gave me the opportunity to change. He confronted me with my foolishness and left me with two choices: Continue the way I had been and waste my life or allow Jesus to be Lord of my life and have meaning and purpose. Fortunately, I chose the latter of those two options and my life has never been the same. Please know that the restitution was painful, embarrassing and very beneficial. At the end of my six months of restitution, my record was expunged (Which means I don't have a criminal record). I also learned to value and treasure my family more than I had ever done in my life. Most of all, I learned that my problem was not with the law, but with God. I drew closer to Him than I ever had in my life and began to personalize my faith. There were many nights when Jesus was my only friend and that friendship has lasted my entire life and grown stronger.
We need to pray for this youth in our church family. If you would like to write this youth, send me an e-mail and I will send you his address. We need to encourage our youth to live for Jesus and not play the game. We need to set an example for our youth and live for Jesus, not playing games. We don't need to be perfect, we just need to be real and a reasonable fascimile of Jesus.
In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus tells us we have two choices. One is easy to find and most people we know are on it. The only drawback, this choice leads to death. The second choice is harder to find and only a few are on the path. The benefit of this choice is that it leads to life. The best choice is the narrow way, which means following Jesus without reservation. The worst choice is the broad way, which means continuing in our present direction.
Which road will you take today?
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