The Last Time I Wept Like That ...

I was at Catalyst Conference 05 in Atlanta GA. I was listening to Bill Hybels talk very plainly and humbly about where God has led him ... he ended very passionately with this concise statement ... "If you're dreaming about doing great things for God, do them." What was it about that simple challenge that got me? Not sure, but whatever it was ... it got me again. Saturday night ... as I watched the movie Amazing Grace.

If you've not yet seen it, I highly suggest you find the means and do so. In this movie you'll find a young William Wilberforce fighting fearlessly, and paying the price of his physical and emotional health, to end the slave trade in England. But Wilberforce stands on the shoulders of a man who had participated in the slave trade before repenting and experiencing grace, John Newton. Newton had been taught by his mother as a young boy to know the Bible and love God, and after a life of doing just the opposite, he finally surrendered the truth that lingered in his head from childhood and turned to Christ. This man was Wilberforce's preacher. His story and his preaching inspired Wilberforce to follow God's plan for his life ... to fight to end slavery ... and ultimately, to win that fight.

Something about the combination of a man on a mission (William Wilberforce) and a broken sinner who turns to the Savior (John Newton) sent an arrow toward that spot in my heart that gets stirred to passionately pursue God's glory no matter the cost ... and the tears flowed. As they do right now, as I think about something Newton said near the end of his life ... "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." (see John Newton)

How depressing it was for this man to recall the painful events of his life, but how sweet to remember the pain the Savior endured to redeem him. It was his run in with this great Savior that led him to write these words:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

That last line became particularly significant toward the end of Newton's life, as he lost his eyesight, but had the confidence that his physical blindness didn't alter his spiritual sight.

Now, think with me for a minute ... William Wilberforce was a dynamic, charismatic, passionate young man who changed the course of a nation by taking a stand against injustice, but he was inspired by a man who had lived a filthy life of blasphemy ... and this man was saved from such because his mother took the time to teach her young son the Bible. So when you think about the abolition of the slave trade in England, or you sing the words of Amazing Grace ... don't just think about the great orator William Wilberforce making speeches in parliament, or the great hymn writer John Newton whose hymns were heard by the masses ... think about a mother, who was faithful. And in the quiet moments, in the privacy of their own home, taught her son the truth of God's Word, and the truth about God's Amazing Grace.