His uncle really didn’t do Joe any favors. Sure, he secured a very high-paying job for Joe. It paid him over $5K/week. Yes, per week!
All Joe had to do was deal heroin for the Mexican Mafia. He didn’t have to kill anyone. There was another crew for that. Eventually, the law caught up to Joe.
He went to prison for several years. He was still in his teens. One night, alone in his prison cell, Joe wept. He was going to take his own life. The loneliness, the worthlessness, the emptiness were more than Joe could bear. But God had another plan for him, as He may also for you. Joe looked up, crying out to God, saying, “If you are real, like Christians tell me, then let me know tonight!”
Joe then searched a nearby trash can for his hometown newspaper. Instead, he found a discarded Bible tract. He sent off for the offered Bible study.
A couple of men soon visited and taught Joe the Gospel of Jesus. Today Joe is a dynamic Gospel preacher and church worker.
The Bible tells about another young man. Saul thought he was already doing God’s work. One day some men were stoning a Christian young man to death. Saul was there. The men put Saul in charge of caring for their garments (Acts 7:58-60). He heartily agreed to the killing (Acts 8:1-3).
“Saul began ravaging the church” for which Jesus died. He broke up families, put men and women into prison, and “used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13).
With all this bloodshed and malicious treatment of God’s people, Saul later wrote as the apostle Paul, “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
“And yet for this reason I found mercy, in order that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience, as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:15-16). That includes all who are reading this article.
Joe’s uncle really didn’t help him, yet good came from it. Saul really didn’t help honor God, yet he became a great Christian, like Joe, in spite of his many sins. Whatever you have done, Jesus patiently waits for you.
Jesus is willing and able to save you. Jesus loves you!