By Ron Berg
My parents were Baptists so I had a drug problem when I was growing up. I was drug to church, drug to Sunday School and drug to summer camp etc.
At a summer camp when I was 9 or 10 years old I responded to the tug of the Holy Spirit and walked down the aisle. But no one told me I needed to receive Christ or even that I needed forgiveness for my sins so nothing happened.
At the end of that week of camp I went to a camp counselor who was taking care of the camp-grounds and working his way through seminary. He loved us kids and we loved him. I told him “I’m not sure I am saved.” He had probably seen me walk that aisle and thought I was saved. I was fairly well-behaved. A few weeks later I left my upstairs bedroom and went downstairs and got on my knees beside my parents’ bed. I told them “I’m not sure I am saved.” Mom was usually a cook or something at summer camp and had probably seen me walk that aisle and thought I was saved. They got me back in bed and the next morning Mom sent me to Dad’s office. He got his Bible out of the desk and took me to John 1:12 — “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” My parents thought I had received Christ. I had not. After I left home I lived an increasingly sinful life.
When I was about 43 years old I went through a mid-life crisis. I wanted to be wealthy. That was impossible. I wanted to be a golf pro. Too late for that. At that time I got home from my job about midnight. The un-biblical church I was attending never locked the doors. On my way home from work I would often go into that church all alone and weep. I had no idea what I needed. But I knew somehow that God did.
I had been an over-the-road truck driver and drove mostly at night. To stay awake I listened to country western music. After I got off the road and got a job that permitted me to be home at night, I could listen to Christian radio and still do my job. The music was comforting but when the preachers came on I shut them off. Finally I heard a preacher that I did not turn off. He said that salvation was like heart surgery. In surgery you cannot do it yourself. You must trust a surgeon. At the end of the message I asked the Lord to be my heart surgeon and I was saved at that moment. For the first time in my life I was trusting Him. I had no idea what He was going to change about me and my heart but I knew that I needed it.
For a few months after I was saved I was angry at those Christians who did not help me when my heart was open as a child. Then I learned that salvation is so completely the gift of God that He chooses the time and the place and the impact He will have on us. God’s plan for me was that I would be saved at age 43 in 1985. I want to be like those believers who failed me in every respect but one. I DO NOT WANT TO FAIL ANYONE WHOSE HEART GOD HAS OPENED. And God has given me more ministry than many who were saved as children so my anger is gone.
Some of my favorite passages define in many ways what God did for and to me:
Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Acts 15:7–9 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them (the Gentiles) witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; (the Jews) 9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
No one but the God who created them in the first place could purify our hearts.
Ephesians 2:8–10 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Philippians 2:12–13 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 FOR IT IS GOD WHICH WORKETH IN YOU both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that HE WHICH HATH BEGUN A GOOD WORK IN YOU will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
1 Peter 1:4–5 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
It is easier to go with a strong wind than against it. Likewise it is easier to walk with God than against Him.
Psalms 23:1–6 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.