Real Reward, Devotion by Pastor Richard

In last week’s devotion I mentioned the success of long-term commitment in a group of young men’s lives. Today I will tell you more about their story…       

  One Tuesday night we were doing our mentoring thing. We ate dinner, did homework, and did our weekly devotion. Normally the boys could hardly sit still for the devotion time because afterwards we got to play basketball and run off a ton of energy. This night was a little different. We started our devotion and a couple of the boys were really being extraordinarily quiet and patient. They seemed to listen more than usual, and they seemed to have something on their minds.

After we prayed and began to move toward the gym for basketball, four of the boys pulled me aside and asked me how to join the church. You see, our goal was never to force Christ or make the kids feel guilty about not being a Christian or being involved in a church, we just left that part up to God! We just talked about and showed them the love of Jesus through our commitment and actions. Needless to say, I never expected them to want to join our church! God was moving in their lives, and we were ready to be a part of their next steps in their faith journeys. These four boys were wanting to respond to the love of Christ they were finding in their lives. So, I sat down with them and explained the process and asked why they wanted to do this, all of the appropriate questions about faith in Christ and committing to the church community. I was humbled by their responses and willingness to commit. It was simple, they were in a place where they were loved and cared for and wanted to remain a part of that community. They also were convinced that the source of that love was in Jesus Christ, so they were ready!

Soon enough, the Sunday morning came that they were to make their profession of faith before the church and then be baptized. At that time I was serving a Baptist church, and baptism was by immersion, we had to dunk them all the way under! They requested that I Baptize them, probably another one of the most humbling times in my ministry.

Neither I, nor they, will forget their next test of their commitment. That cold February morning everything was ready, except one thing, the heater had gone out on the baptismal pool. The water temperature may have been fifty degrees! It was crazy cold. It was located on an outside wall of the sanctuary, and it was nowhere near room temperature. I asked them if they wanted to wait until the next Sunday, after we had it repaired. In their excitement, all four kids said no way! We are doing this today!

That morning four youth nearly froze to death in declaring their love for Jesus and for that church who literally showed them the transformative love of Jesus. They were so excited about becoming part of the church, and even more about becoming followers of Jesus. Even a little cold water would not and did not get in their way of adding their voices proclaiming the amazing love of Christ.

So, ask yourself, where have you seen God lately in your life? Where is He revealing the real reward He has for you? I have no doubt it is there, you might have to do a little work to discover it! Look for it!