Dear younger me I wrote and posted this some time ago...
is a letter I've written to myself when I was fifty years younger. I've got a lot to tell me. Would God I listen. I certainly needed it.
Dear younger me, oh dear dear me;
I should've written to you much sooner. Even if someone else could have it would have been good...but only IF they do it in love. You could have used it such a long long time ago. From where I stand now I could have perhaps saved you a whole lot of grief had I written much sooner. But would I have listened? I would like to think so but knowing you as I do I seriously doubt it. Without a doubt you are one of the stupidest, stiffnecked, slow to learn, undisciplined men that ever resisted God to their own detriment and folly. If the right person had tried to show you maybe, but all men busily seek their own and not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
When you get to be 33 the biggest thing that ever happens to you comes up on God's calendar. Jesus Christ comes to the country where you live and saves you. You will not comprehend what has happened. To become a completely different person that suddenly finds everything unfamiliar is scary to say the least. But that shocking change is how God had to deal with you, with us. I know you're not familiar with the term saved. In short Jesus Christ the son of God came to earth 2000 years ago to give his life and blood on the cross for you. The sins you've committed against Him can only be forgiven by placing them under the blood He shed for you. It will be clearer later. You'll need much Bible reading and prayer.
He also baptizes you in His Holy Spirit but I'll tell you more about that later.
He, Jesus, was 33 when He gave his life, same age you will be when you come to understand that you need Him more than anything else. The year He Himself chose for you. Then after you are saved you can look back and see how much he has given you and many times He kept you from getting yourself killed. How many times what you thought was luck was actually divine providence. He saw down the path of years and knew that you would yield to His conviction. It sounds strange but it's true. The word luck will be taken away from your vocabulary.
God's first name is Jesus by the way and you owe Him everything. He's not a baby in a Manger nor is He hanging on a cross or in a granite tomb. He made the round trip to earth to collect sheep. You are working now, living in the country. You hunt, fish and get to do about anything you want. Even though you are unsaved it is still Him that has provided you the opportunity to live the life you are enjoying. He calls those things that are not as though they were. He already sees you as His.
But I would like for you to now see how worthless many of the things you are pursuing really are. You will look back after 33 and realize they had no value at all. I am sorry that you had no one to teach you about Jesus when you were young. That Jesus was far from your home. I regret that the poor relationship you had with your own father will be a real hindrance as seeing God the Father as completely loving, kind and always looking out for you.
You thought God the Father to be like your earthly father. Harsh, demanding, always critical. Always scrutinizing everything you do. It will take years to shake off that belief about God. To fear Him but not be afraid of Him. To find out how a good father is supposed to be. You won't have to throw up your arms to deflect a blow from God. His arms are outstretched to you not raised in anger.
But He is very patient though and sees that He will eventually get through to you.
Proverbs 29:21 KJVS
He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.
You start off as a servant doing things because it's required. If you continue you will become a son.
He is always nearby even though you never think about Him. Even after decades pass by you'll be amazed to find that He will still be changing things in you. There is much to change in you trust me. There is so much to change He'll do it a little at a time just as His word says. You won't be able to much remember how you are now. It's a blessing to be not to be able to remember many things..
Deuteronomy 7:22 NASB
The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, for the wild beasts would grow too numerous for you.
He uses the very liberty you have in bringing you to the place of recognizing how empty and seemingly useless your pursuits will become. Many of those pursuits are not bad, not evil but they they will become increasingly unfulfilling. You think that you will love all of these things always but many will become boring and not as much fun as they were twenty or thirty years ago. You will change in many ways that are incomprehensible to you today. He will allow you to do as you please and thus you'll discover that your desires are largely futile and "is that all there is"?
fruitless. He says this in the Bible. You will come to understand futility like the old song.
Ecclesiastes 11:9 NASB
Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.
As you live you'll find you're running out of things to stir your interest. Those things you once did because they seemed exciting and new will become as lackluster and boring as children's games. They're OK but something inside you has changed. You don't understand now but later you will just as Jesus told Peter. This is when God steps in and causes that great feeling of emptiness inside you to be magnified. This will cause you to be open to Him
Ecclesiastes 2:17 NASB
So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
You will come to know that He alone is the answer to your vast emptiness. Even from my present advanced age it is still a mystery and I can only tell you the part I know something of. The closer you draw to Him the more fulfillment you will extract from life. There is no substitute for close fellowship with God the Father, Jesus Christ the son and God the Holy Spirit. John who laid his head on the Lord Jesus' bosom knew this. He didn't try to approach the savior with his mind but just with his heart and faith. Your desire to know Him better will be a consuming fire. A fire that will incinerate the fleshly nature you and I have to battle against.
Cont'd below...
