Yesterday I was hanging out with a new guy at church named Ben. Ben just came out of prison.
He had spent some time doing lots of drugs and got locked up for some time (I’m not sure why). He told me how someone shared Christ with him while he was in prison and he was a changed man afterwards.
He started reading his Bible and talking to Jesus in his prison cell. From then on, he had such a peace in his soul because he knew that every time he prayed, Jesus heard him.
And so there we were just hanging out after church, blessing us with his testimony.
I was reminded then and there that God is in the business of saving, of what we would consider, the worst. He is in the business of giving hope to the hopeless. He is in the business of flipping the switch on people’s lives.
And as we were walking together, I knew immediately that Ben was God’s investment project. Yes, I know that Jesus loves him for him and that he’s a son of God now, but the Lord had prompted my spirit that God was going to use this guy for His glory.
I knew that God saved him for a purpose. That Ben wouldn’t waste his life. That the years before he met Christ, he has no control over those anymore, and those years, in many respects, as he admitted, were years wasted. I told him how none of us know how many years God has us left here, but what we can control is the ability with what years we have left to spend it for Christ’s glory.
That, I believe, is a life not wasted. And I’m positive Ben is on board.
