by Roger Alcaraz
It’s not everyday a grown man says to me, “I hope you don’t look down on me for sharing that.” It’s even rarer to hear those words in Spanish, but that’s what an IBM church member said to me after sharing his testimony. His story came straight out of a soap opera– full of drugs, violence, and sexual sin, all rolled up into one man.
As he shared with me, a complete stranger, his voice became softer and his gaze shifted from me to the open air just to avoid eye contact. I could tell that bringing up the sinful events of his past was embarrassing for him and yet he continued to share about the violence and drugs that enslaved his former life. Most humiliating for him were the times in his life when he was despaired to the point of death. Four times he tried to take his own life and four times, he said, God showed mercy.
Being now saved, he looks back on his testimony and wonders why God would ever save him, a sinner. By the end of him sharing, we were both in awe of the power and mercy of God, but I sensed that he felt ashamed of his past. It’s certainly no life I would wish upon anyone, but I told him the beauty of the Gospel is that no matter what a person’s life looks like, the story is the same. I couldn’t help but identify with him, as I’m sure all believers can, because whether you’re the person who did drugs or the person who grew up in the church, we were all equal sinners before God.
What is more, the church needs people who struggled in the fight against drugs, violence, and sex because God says that we’re able to comfort others with the same comfort that we have received from God. Since God comforted and brought hope to a depressed and violent man, this man can then comfort those struggling in ways others can’t by just saying, “God helped me through the same struggle and he can help you.” This member is a necessary part of the body, and in the end, God is the one who put him in and brought him out of his condition. He still struggles with drugs and the chains of its enslavement are hard to break, but it is clear that God is the victor of his story and was at work within him.
Now this man seeks to be an example to his children and lovingly raise them in the church so they can hear God’s word and follow him from a young age. He hopes they would never make the same mistakes as he did, so he entrusts them to God. Encouraged by all this, we gave glory to God in prayer as we thanked him for the salvation that is by grace alone through faith alone. Amen.
Editor’s note: This is a continuation of a series of articles being provided by the 2013 Argentina short-term missions team announced here.