WHAT WOULD A LIFE-TIME BE WITHOUT CHIRST?
I will soon be 71 years old, raised all my life by Godly parents. Going to church, worshiping with saints and feeling the presence of the LORD was always a real part of my life. What a joy it is to be saved by the grace of our LORD. What happiness this produces in my soul to know that I have been called and chosen, not by own desire, but by the desire God placed in me from the beginning of time.
Yes, I had a choice! Free moral agency works in all of Adams race, all men choose their own way, as was in Adam after the fall. He did not go looking for God, it was God looking for him, and then providing a way back. That was God's choice, and it is His choice that changed my desires, not my own.
Therefore, I want to always enjoy my salvation even in the difficult times of life. The psalmist of Israel said it like this; "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread."
It is said of the Godly Polycarp, an old man and early preacher of the Gospel as he was being led to his martyrdom. "You are an old man, have respect to that and reproach Christ and you will be set at liberty." Polycarp's answer; "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?"
What a JOY it has been to serve the LORD yesterday, today and everyday!