Wasted Years

One Man’s Journey

“Seek the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near” (Isaiah 55:6).

I knew a man whose testimony was all about wasted years. When he was a child he wanted to know and serve the Lord. He went to his pastor who, unfortunately, did not know the Lord. He spoke to the boy about church rules. The boy served in the church but he did not gain what he originally came to find which was to know the God Who he felt was drawing him. He eventually left the church as a young man finding nothing there that satisfied his desire for the Lord.

His life through his twenties and into his thirties was spent in the world with little regard for the things of the Lord. He had little hope in finding what he sought as a young boy. However, deep down he still believed that there was a way to know the God that he felt had drawn him those many years ago. He went through a business failure and had much free time to pursue his favorite pastime, which was reading.

He came across a book on prophecy and read it cover to cover. The same author had written other books and in one of those books, the author shared the Gospel. He couldn’t believe that the Gospel was so simple. Jesus died for our sins on the Cross and if we repent and place our faith in His sacrificial death at Calvary, we will be saved and have fellowship with the Lord. The man was excited about finally knowing the way to the Lord after all those years. But he thought about all those wasted years. He was so grateful that the Lord had revealed Himself to Him, but he thought how much different his life would have been if he had found the Lord as a child. Wasted years!

This man’s story is one of many regarding wasted years. He did not hear the Gospel until well into his thirties. He thanks God every day for His mercy and grace and is so thankful that he knows the Lord and has been brought into the family of God. The Lord has blessed the man abundantly since his coming to the Lord. In some ways, the Lord has restored those lost years in blessings. The man has drawn near to the God Who called him those many years ago.

Many, however, have heard the Gospel and have chosen to reject it. They have heard that the Lord has provided a Salvation for whosoever will come His way. They have chosen to go their own way which will only lead to an eternity without the Lord. Wasted years – wasted lives!

“O satisfy us early with Your mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days” (Psalm 90:14).

We are on this Earth for a short period of time and coming to know the Lord is the most important thing that could ever have happened to us. Once we know the Lord, we rejoice and are glad through all the remaining years of our lives. If we put off knowing the Lord for the present, there is no guarantee that we will come to the Lord in the future. The longer we live without the Lord, the harder it will be to come to Him as we become more and more settled in the ways of the world. If we do delay coming to the Lord after hearing the Gospel, and come to Him later in life, we will see that it is the greatest life we could ever live. We will look back on those wasted years when we did not know Him and think how foolish we were.

If you do not know the Lord – you have heard the Gospel today. It is your decision to accept, or reject it. I pray that you will come to Him in repentance and faith. All the years of our lives that are lived outside of knowing the love the Lord has for us are wasted years.

“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

Always Remember,

God Loves You!

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Here I Am, Lord – Tom Quinn Ministries – tqministries.com 2023