How God Used Bold People to Shape My Faith

Hey everybody, welcome to Christianity.com and my home library. My name is James Spencer. I'm president of Useful to God, host of Thinking Christian, a podcast on Salem's Life Audio Network.

I'm a regular contributor to Christianity.com and the author of "Serpents and Doves, Christians, Politics, and the Art of Bearing Witness," which you can find on Amazon.com. More importantly, I'm a Christian, and here's how that came about and why that will never change. I'm a Christian because a series of people throughout my life have been bold enough to challenge me to dedicate myself to following Christ. They've gone out of their way to help me when it didn't serve their interests.

They responded to God's prompting to care for those in need, and I was one of those people who was absolutely in need. And I think my wife was the first person I really remember doing this. We'd been high school sweethearts, and when she attended a college with me during my sophomore year, she could just tell there was something wrong, that I needed some help.

And so she decided that the best thing to do would be to drag me kicking and screaming to Campus Crusade meetings. I had no interest in campus ministry. I had seen these folks going around knocking on dorm room doors, sharing the four spiritual laws, and I avoided them like the plague.

But ultimately, when I went to these Campus Crusade for Christ meetings, I heard the gospel and became a Christian. And so her influence continues to be a huge factor in my life and faith. I think she still ends up dragging me into new challenges and experiences, hopefully now with less kicking and screaming.

After I became a Christian, I had some trouble fitting in. I knew that I loved Jesus, but I wasn't sure about his people or the church. Eventually, I met an intern with Campus Crusade who became one of my close friends.

He was the sort of guy who just let me be me. He wasn't trying to push me to act any particular way or force me into the mold of Christian culture of the day. He just wanted to see me grow in Christ.

He was actually the one who challenged me to attend seminary. He told me that I was too hard-headed to let anyone else teach me, so I should go and learn the Bible for myself. Enrolling in my MDiv began what my wife and I affectionately call the longest and most expensive discipleship program ever.

I spent 12 years in theological education, completing my MDiv, a Master of Biblical Exegesis, and then, ultimately, my PhD. While learning and reading all of these books and several others has been helpful, it was really the people who worked with me along the way who made the difference. For instance, during my second year of my MDiv, I had a professor who kind of pulled me aside after a faculty-led discussion group, and he said he could just tell that I needed help.

And he was right. I wasn't having trouble in school; academic work wasn't the problem, but other parts of my life were in shambles. In many ways, his influence helped me become a more godly husband and, ultimately, a godly father.

And over the next several years, even into my early career in higher education, he was a mentor and a friend who was always available to encourage and counsel me in my faith. God's shown up numerous times like that in my life. There have been other people, like executive coaches, colleagues, bosses, pastors, or even just friends, who have spoken a fresh word from God in my life, challenged me to conform more closely to Christ, and helped me to understand what it means to follow the two great commandments found in Matthew 22:34-39:

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So, I would say that I'm a Christian in part because God brought people into my life who loved him and were willing to love me. Be blessed today and visit Christianity.com regularly because God's not finished with our story.

Amen.

Photo Credit: SWN Design