Maurice's Story

"I remember a period of my life when I did not think that I was a bad person. The reason wasn't because I was such a goody-two-shoes; rather I was using other people around me as my standard of goodness. When I looked at my friends, I was just as good as most of them—if not better in some ways.

"When I look back on it now, I realize that my standards changed according to who my friends were. When I was a young teenager, I was living in Brazil with my parents. The only English-speaking school in our area was a missionary boarding school. At that point, my friends were missionaries' kids. The way we related to girls—for example—was quite pure in comparison to my friends back in the States. When I got back to the States, my standards went down because my friends' standards were lower.

"So when people would talk about how God offered to forgive my sins through Jesus Christ I thought, “What sins? I'm not such a bad guy.” What Jesus did was irrelevant to me. Sure, Jesus was a nice guy and all that, but these people who talked with misty eyes about being forgiven gave me the creeps. I thought they were crazy fanatics.

"Then one day in January of 1974, when I was in college, I had an experience that changed my attitude. I can't describe it any other way than to say that God opened my eyes to what was really happening with me. Instead of seeing myself in relation to my friends, I began to see myself based on God's standard. God says that we are to worship only Him. For me, my god was pleasure and a good time. That's what my life focused around: sure, I went to school and worked, but I lived for the weekend. The most important things in life to me at that time were having a good time with my friends, going to parties and getting in bed with some girl.

"This realization shook me to the roots of my being. I remember calling up a friend of mine and telling them I had to get my life together: I was going to stop getting drunk and smoking pot and running around. My friend thought I was going nuts. As the weeks progressed, I found no relief from the turmoil in my soul. Instead, it became worse. I was miserable and I made life for my roommates miserable. I thought of attending a TM course because they promised inner peace, but I didn't have the $60 to pay for it. One of my fraternity buddies teasingly suggested that I become a Christian. Then I could have peace for free. I said, 'I'll never become one of those Jesus freaks!' Two weeks later I ate my words.

"While discussing my life's problems with a fellow fraternity brother who I respected, he began to tell me the good news of God's love and forgiveness found in Christ. I began to see that God designed me and expected me to center my life on Him. My focus in life was on my personal fulfillment. I was not pleasing to God at all; in fact, I was in the enemy camp. My lifestyle was hostile to God. I had no peace in my life because I was not at peace with God. That night in his room I saw that Jesus Christ was the only way to have peace with God, and I submitted my life to Him.

"Having given my life over to indulging the sinful desires, I had--like Christian of Pilgrim's Progress--heaped a load of sin and guilt upon myself. When I confessed my sin to God and placed my hope and trust in Christ alone, I experienced a release from that guilt of sin as if someone had taken a heavy burden off my back. And things began to change. Some things changed immediately and dramatically--like my filthy mouth and sour attitude about life--while other things were more subtle and slow in changing--like loving difficult people or honoring my Dad.

"But that did change, too. I had been living in defiance of my parents, but over a six-month period God ordered the circumstances of my life so that I had to go back home. God taught me a lot about honoring my Mom and Dad. My Dad and I went from being enemies to best of friends. During those three extra years I stayed at home, I learned some vital lessons that have helped me as a man to live a successful life.

"I'm 49 years old now, and have a wife and three children. I'm so thankful to Jesus Christ for all that He has done for me. I have followed Jesus Christ for 30 years now. There have been very painful times as well as great and awesome times. Following Christ has sometimes cost me in friends and career. But I would not give it up for anything. The words of Jesus' disciple describe where I'm coming from. He said to Jesus, 'You have the words of eternal life. Where else could we go?'"