Do not despise your Christian upbringing
I found this reminder incredibly helpful this morning as I read it. Psalm 71 contains these words,
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD,
my confidence since my youth.(v5)From birth I have relied on you;
you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
I will ever praise you. (v6)Since my youth, O God, you have taught me,
and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. (v17)(Scripture taken from the New International Version)
There is a common feeling that many Christians can identify with – wondering if it wouldn’t have been cooler, more exciting or even more obviously glorifying to God if we’d been a bit more rebellious before coming to Christ. Reflecting on that question, and these verses, Don Carson comments,
The most thoughtful of those who are converted later in life wish they had not wasted so many of their early years. Now that they have found the pearl of great price, their only regret is that they did not find it sooner.
More importantly, those who are reared in godly Christian homes are steeped in Scripture from their youth. There is plenty in scripture and in personal experience to disclose to them the perversity of their own hearts; they do not need to be sociopaths to discover what depravity means.
They will be sufficiently ashamed of the sins they have committed, despite their backgrounds, that instead of wishing that they could have had a worse background (!), they sometimes hang their head in shame that they have done so little with their advantages, and frankly recognize that apart from the grace of God, there is no crime and sin to which they could not sink.
It is best, by far, to be grateful for a godly heritage and to petition God himself for grace that will see you through old age.
D.A. Carson, For the Love of God (Leicester: IVP, 1998), entry for May 18 [I'm working at my own pace!]
