The Local Church

Christ Really Satisfies

My name is Charles Pafford and I grew up in a Christian home. Both my parents met regularly with the local church in the city where we lived. From an early age my parents encouraged me and my siblings to attend the meetings and read the Bible consistently. They also shared with us God's plan for us and how we are vessels to contain God and can receive God into us by calling on His name and reading the Word. It seems that I knew God's desire for me from an early age and yet I still wanted to have fun in the world and live like some of my friends, care free and without inhibitions.

It wasn't until I entered college that the unbelieving friends I made really began to affect my pursuit of the Lord. I began to participate in everything that they did in order to fit in. I reasoned that since the Lord's blood cleanses me from every sin, I could do what I want and repent later. Although I never stopped believing in God or in what He was doing on this earth, I was trying to get my fill of the world and enjoy it. As I was constantly running away, He was faithfully reminding me of the life that I had within me and that no matter how hard I tried, I was not the same as the world, and the world could never satisfy me (Galatians 6:14).

As time passed I began to lose interest in what had attracted me before. I realized that I was wasting my time and only delaying what God was trying to do. He began to remind me of all the truths I had gained in my years in the church and how my unbelieving friends had no idea about God's plan, and, worse yet, they were not even saved. They were living the same dead-end life that I was, but I knew there was something else and refused to reveal it to them. As the wrestling within me continued, I began to share with my friends about God's salvation but the impact was lessened due to my not living according to my speaking. I realized that I needed to be fully for the Lord and break out of my lukewarmness in order to share Christ with my friends. I began to realize that if they were not saved then the years that I spent with them would all have been a waste.

This feeling motivated me to begin to contact the Lord daily and meet again with the believers in the local church, this time with a renewed consecration. It was through my desire to snap out of my passive attitude towards the Lord's moving that He was able to move in me and touch me about my attachments to the world. Slowly He began to show me that He was far more attractive than anything the world had to offer and that to be in the church, growing in His life, is what living is all about.

Charles Pafford | Back to List

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