Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none. —William Shakespeare
Trust everybody, but cut the cards. —Finley Peter Dunne
It was a “rug-rat” conversion. I see them all the time. Young adults tend to walk their own way for a season or two, walking independently of God. Then bambino numero uno comes along, and the new parents decide it’s time to get their spiritual household together for the sake of the little rug-rat ankle-biter. So be it! Whatever it takes!
Rug-rat conversions have been going on for a long time, certainly as far back as Enoch in Genesis 5:21-22:
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God…
In Jude 1:14-15 we see that God used Enoch to reveal a horrific revelation of a future flood. Enoch now had a choice. With doom somewhere over the horizon, he could be overwhelmed by a potent fear of the future, OR he could choose to step out and trust God moment by moment. Enoch took the first step of faith. Then he took another. Then he took another…
Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 hundred years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. (Genesis 5:22-24)
We can draw many life lessons from this historical account. One is how Enoch “walked with God” in the face of destruction, step by step, until the end.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)
But don’t let the simplicity of the situation slip by because “By faith … he was commended as one who pleased God.”
Heavenly Father, You are worthy of my trust. By Your Spirit—my Comforter—in my spirit, move in such a way that I take the next step of faith, and then another, until I have walked with You the rest of my life as one who has pleased You. Amen.