CAN GOD COUNT ON YOU

While serving on the faculty at the International Bible Seminary in Switzerland, we were thrilled at the start of the winter semester to welcome our first students from the Netherlands. They included an engaged couple, with the young man being a pastor’s son, and his fiancée a young lady who had recently been converted. The boy was easy going, but the girl was all enthusiasm and joy in being part of this spiritually energized community of believing students.

It wasn’t long before her desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit was evident. Often during chapel, she was the last one to finish praying. In one service she broke down weeping and asked, “Why can’t I have what everyone else has? I want to be like them!” It didn’t take a psychologist to diagnose that while she felt part of the other young people, she didn’t feel equal. I didn’t know then how much that would affect her walk with Christ.

In February of next year, however, we learned that the couple was trying to decide whether or not to remain engaged. Since we weren’t in the match-making business, we chose to let them work it out with counseling from their pastor. In October we received some disturbing news that this young lady had become intimately involved with another man and her engagement with the pastor’s son was dissolved. It broke all of our hearts and we felt so disappointed that we couldn’t do more.

So when I was asked by the head of the European department to become a liaison to the Netherlands, I resolved in my heart to try and visit this student as soon as possible. As her former teacher, I wanted to see if there was anything I could do. I reminded myself that in my Personal Evangelism class I stressed that personal evangelism is not just a program, it has to be a passion for the lost in order for it to be real. I told them, when you try to win someone to Christ and they detect that it’s only part of an outreach program instead of a deep concern for their soul, it shouldn’t be surprising that they are less than enthusiastic about responding. And, if they do go along with your wishes it usually doesn’t last long.

Also, my heart burned with a promise I made to my students in that Personal Evangelism class that if ever anyone of them went astray, I would do all I could to find them. When I arrived in Holland, my first question to her pastor was if he had any update on her situation because I wanted to find her and talk to her. His response almost crushed my heart when he said, “She knows where we live and where the church is. If she’s really interested she will come to us!” However, I let him know that my interest in seeing her came from being her former teacher. It took four days before he got me her address.

When I went over to the house where she was staying and walked up to the door, my heart was beating fast. I was praying and hoping that she would be open to my visit and receptive to my concern for her spiritual condition. Her sister came to the door, and when I introduced myself she smiled and invited me in. As I stepped into the room I saw my former student standing in the living room. When she saw me her eyes widened and her expression of surprise quickly brought tears as she ran to me. She laid her head on my shoulder as she wept and wept while saying how sorry she was. I noticed that her sister, brother-in-law, and boyfriend stood and watched the whole scene, but I put it out of my mind because this may be my only chance to reach out to her and be a vessel of God’s love in getting her back into a joyful relationship with Him.

After she composed herself, I told her how much I worried about her and had been praying for her, that’s why I wanted to see her while I was there. The words she spoke next touched me deeply when she said, “I knew you would come. I didn’t know when but I knew you would find me, because of the promise you made in our class. That’s why I’m not surprised to see you because I knew if anyone would come looking for me it would be you.” I was glad to tell her that it wasn’t just me because of a promise that I made in class, but it was Jesus who was looking for her and He was merely using me to deliver His message of forgiveness and care.

We then prayed together, and I left with a sense of having fulfilled my compassion of finding a lost sheep so she could be brought back into the fold. She promised to call the next day, but I was not at the pastor’s house when she phoned. She left a message that she had to go to Rotterdam for a family emergency and would call when she got back. But I had to return to Switzerland before she was able to reach me.

Would I have been happy if I could have seen her back in church, rejoicing again in the presence of her Savior? Yes, of course! Would it have been nice if I received word from her pastor that she was once again fellowshipping and growing in the Word and knowledge of our Lord? Absolutely! But since those things were not reported to me, was I to dampen my hope and discontinue my prayers that God would work in her life to bring about restoration and unity? Absolutely not!

When I stand before the King on Judgment Day, His only concern with me will be whether or not I was faithful to His calling; whether or not I carried out His will and did what He asked me to do. For the rest of my ministry, I’ve dedicated myself to doing what God directed me to do at any given moment, and let Him be in charge of the outcome. Why? Because I trust Him! I know, there is no greater reward awaiting me in heaven than this: to be told by Him that He could trust me to be a good and faithful servant. – Dr. Robert R. Seyda