Child-Like Faith

I was born in 1963 the first child in a family that eventually consisted of two parents, four boys, and after I left home one sister. I never knew either of my Grandfathers to go to a church on a regular basis. I do however recall my Grandmothers going to church and later in my life they both encouraged me in my service for the Lord. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t go to church. 

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In the late 60’s my parents moved the family to Freeport where my dad started to work for the Dow Chemical Company. Shortly thereafter we started attending a Baptist church in town. It is in this church where I have my first spiritual memories. It was not long before my parents were actively involved in the ministries of that church. My parents were teaching the young people. I remember that we faithfully attended all the services of the church. I also remember that it was in Sunday School at this church where I began to learn the stories of the bible. Mrs. Lindsey and Mrs. Cearley taught me in those early years and I learned the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah, Moses, Joseph, David, Peter, Paul and Jesus. I remember learning about the miracles that Jesus performed and him dying on a cross and being raised from the dead the third day. I never was an unbeliever in the sense that I ever denied any of the things that I was taught. I was always taught, and everyone I knew, believed the bible was the word of God and as such it was to be believed. So, I believed it. I remember having weekly memory verses and working on that at home with my Mom. I remember learning the books of the bible. I remember learning the Sunday School songs: Deep and Wide, Jesus Love Me, Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man, The Lord’s Army, This Little Light of Mine, and others. I remember having bible drills. I enjoyed Sunday School. While I knew, I was learning about the bible, and God, and Jesus none of it was very personal. 

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I was, in general, a happy boy that liked going to church and seeing my friends and hearing the stories and singing the songs, but I can’t really say that any of it really meant that much to me. I spent about two years in this condition. I really didn’t think much about God or the Bible other than when in church and even then it didn’t really have any special meaning to me. It was just what I did because it is what my family did. 

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That all changed one evening. I was not expecting it to change but it did and I have never been the same. It was, I believe, one week night during a revival service. I don’t remember who the guest preacher was and I really don’t remember what he preached, but the Lord used that evening to stir something in me. I was troubled at the end of the sermon but was afraid to go down front. After the service, I communicated to my mom that something was wrong and she took me to the pastor Bro. Phillips. The pastor took me into a room at the back of the church and we got down on our knees and he opened the bible that I accepted as God’s word and begin to show me important things the bible had to say about me and Jesus. While some, if not all, that he shared with me I am sure I had heard before it was if I was hearing it for the first time. He showed me in Romans how that I was a sinner. Even though I was only seven almost eight years old I knew from my time in Sunday School and church that being a sinner was not pleasing to God. I also did not deny that it was true of me. I knew I had not always been a good boy. That evening all my memorized verses, and books of the bible, and Sunday School songs I knew didn’t seem that important or impressive. I just knew that I had done things with which God was not pleased. Bro. Phillips also showed me in the scripture that the penalty for sin was death and hell. Now I 

was really troubled! I knew from my time in Sunday School and church that hell was a place of eternal fire and pain. I also knew I did not want to go to hell! At that point I felt like I was sure to go there if I were to die. And for some reason, even though only seven I felt as though I could die any second. The preacher then showed me from Romans how that the “gift of God was eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. He explained how Jesus died for my sins and he rose from the dead on the third day. These were familiar themes but they had never been as personal as they were that evening kneeling with that Baptist preacher. The preacher explained that God would forgive my sins and save me and give me eternal life and I could go to heaven when I died. With the simplicity of a seven-year-old boy I believed. I believed that God would do what he said. The preacher asked if I would like to pray and I said yes and right there I acknowledged that I was trusting Jesus to save me from sin. Looking back, I know I had believed before I even prayed and that the prayer was an expression of that belief. I do know when I knelt with the Pastor I was burdened and when I got up I was not burdened. I believed my sins were forgiven. 

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Obviously at seven years old I was not a great sinner in the eyes of the world but for a short time that evening I saw myself as a great sinner. I also know from that night not much changed in my life as far as what I was doing, but why I was doing it certainly changed. I still went to Sunday School but the lessons meant more. I still sung the same songs but I began to realize the significance of them. I was not going to church any more just because that is what my family did but because it pleased God. 

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Clearly, I had a lot to learn. But I know from that evening, November 5th, 1970, my life was changed. Since that time I have had a very real sense of the presence of God in my life. I could not sin without misery and I believe the Lord preserved me from a lot of sin that I otherwise would have sought out and participated in. God delivered me from many a temptation as I was growing up attending public school. God saved me and would not let me go out and live a life of habitual immorality, or drunkenness or cursing, or drugs, or lying and stealing and a host of other things. I know this is not because I am better than anyone else but rather because of what God did in my life as a seven-year-old boy! Mine is not a salvation where I said a prayer and then spent a life time pursing and justifying cursing, drinking, drugs, and immorality. 

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I often think of 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. I have experienced this to be true in my life. I often tell people that God delivered me from a life of immorality, drink, cursing, drugs, lying, and stealing before the fact. I am thankful that he delivered me from it instead of out of it. 

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There are two verses that I have been a blessing to me over the years. 

• 2 Timothy 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 

• Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 

 

I consider myself blessed to have known the scriptures from a child and they did make me wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus and that I did not have to become as a little child because I was a child!

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My name is James McEntire and this is MY story.