EXPRESSIONS OF FAITH
Service of sin led man to salvation
By John Wesley Nakao
In the 18th century, 6 million African slaves were shipped from West Africa to the Americas. Men and women, captured in raids, would be loaded and chained side by side below deck in sailing ships. In the dank, unsanitary lower deck sometimes crammed with as many as 600 slaves, the death rate exceeded 20 percent. Corpses, along with slaves stricken with dysentery or smallpox, were cast overboard.
Once in the New World, the cargo of slaves was traded for sugar and molasses to make rum, which the ships would transport to England and then return to Africa to load another shipment of slaves.
It was in such a life and on such a ship that John Newton, a British seaman, found himself. Newton led a hard life, putting out to sea at age 11. Forced to enlist at age 18, he deserted, was captured by authorities and exchanged to the crew of a slave ship headed for Africa.
There Newton found and read "Imitation of Christ," which spoke of a personal relationship with God made possible through forgiveness of sins. It would be the catalyst for a remarkable change in Newton. Later, in the terror of a great storm at sea, Newton opened his heart and surrendered his life to Christ.
Promoted to slave ship captain, the brutality of the slave trade convinced Newton to return to England, where he became a pastor for his last 43 years of life, sometimes preaching against the evils of slavery. As a pastor, he wrote hundreds of hymns, the best known of which contains these autobiographical words: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."
Christ has the same power to change lives for those who humble themselves. God created us and loves us unconditionally. Sin separates us from God. Our own goodness cannot measure up to God's standards: We cannot work or earn our way into God's presence by good deeds. Turning away from sin and believing in Christ in our hearts, we can have a personal friendship with God in this life and the eternal life to come. Not all, however, come to repentance: God has given us free will.
Many people do not have a personal relationship with God, imagining a self-fashioned notion of who God is and how he should be, thus creating God in their own image. Yet "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Come near to God and he will come near to you." (James 4:6,8)
At age 82, Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior."
Your need for a personal relationship with God is no less important. You can come to know God through a simple heartfelt prayer in your own words confessing that you are a sinner, choosing to turn away from your sins and opening your heart to let Christ rule in your life.
As a blind person who can suddenly see, so God's love for you will flood your life with the reality of his existence as he has done for billions of believers because of his amazing grace for us all.
John Nakao is a chaplain for Pali Momi Medical Center and a member of New Hope Christian Fellowship.
