Written by David Scott

When I was growing up, my family attended church services every week. We said grace before every meal, but we weren’t taught from the Bible. I remember being afraid of what God would do to me if I was bad, but after a few years and learning about evolution, God didn’t seem so powerful anymore.

Growing up, I learned I could do whatever I wanted as long as I could hide it, or if I did get caught, talk my way out of it. I judged my value on what others thought of me. Being cool was more important than being good.

I excelled at what was easy and got by with average in everything else. Instead of choosing college, which meant hard work and expectations, I did the easy thing and went to work with my dad when I graduated. I lived at home and spent my money on drugs and cars and girls. Everyone loved me because I was so cool.

I got married to a girl because I got her pregnant, but marriage wasn’t much different from being single. We still smoked pot and partied. But my wife’s parents were strict, religious people. Our getting married helped “make things right,” but the only way to make up for shaming them was for us to start going to church with them. So, we did, with both sets of parents, but we didn’t change our lives. We just behaved for them when we were around them. It worked. They thought we were pretty terrific. All of that reinforced my belief that perception is reality.

I was a sales rep at age 29 when the owner of a small trucking company asked me to join him as his general manager. Being a big shot sounded like a lot of fun, so I tried it. Almost immediately, I thought I’d made a mistake. The company was a dump. The owner was one of the meanest men I’d ever met. But looking for a new job wouldn’t be easy, so I stayed, and I managed to earn the drivers’ respect and friendship. I must have looked like a saint compared to the owner, but I respected him and thought he was a shrewd businessman. Over the next few years, I soaked up his unethical business practices and immoral personal philosophies. The only difference between him and me was that I was nice.

It’s amazing how great Satan can make life look when it’s swirling down the drain. I was hopeless. All I had was guilt, pride, and fear. Years of unethical choices piled up on top of each other, and I used lies to cover up lies. I intentionally spoke in generalities, so I couldn’t be tripped up by my own words. My kids loved me, but I’d become to them what my dad was to me—someone who was kind and invisible. I retreated from everyone into smoking pot, sexual affairs, online pornography—anything I could do alone.

Someone gave my wife the book Left Behind, and I read it. It was about a God I’d never known, a powerful God who meant business. He loved and forgave those who turned away from Satan’s lies, whole-heartedly accepted the gift of Jesus Christ, and submitted their lives to Him. I was eager to know more. I thought the Bible was a collection of stories that couldn’t be taken seriously, but I looked for answers in the Left Behind books.

Early in 2001, my wife told me she was having an affair and wanted me to leave. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was in shock. Not knowing where to turn, I thought I might try this God from Left Behind. An employee had invited me to his small group, and I had talked myself into skipping it until God ushered me there. I was astonished to see several of the power players I knew in this small group. Here were intelligent, well-off, well-respected people sitting around talking about Christ as if He were with us and the Bible as if it were true. They told me who Jesus is and why I need Him, and the Holy Spirit worked in my heart as I listened. He showed me spiritual death and separation from God. I understood why I had to die and what that death really was. Then He showed me Christ; the almighty Son of God, not the pitiful Jesus I’d always seen hanging on crosses. He showed me the gift of salvation, and I understood that as unworthy as I was, I could be free. I cried and cried. That night, the Lord made me completely new in Christ.

Today I’m a little embarrassed by some of the reasoning I’ve done as an immature Christian, but I am a growing disciple of Jesus with hope and gratitude for what He has done in me. I want to tell others my story. As a result, I wrote out my vision, mission, and goals for my company and asked everyone including me, to step up to the plate. I was convinced that if I changed the way I ran the company, I would be labeled a hypocrite. But almost all of my employees thanked me for bringing them a new, “real” company.

I won’t say Satan doesn’t attack in response to godly obedience. I will assure you, however, that the blessings God provides when we’re faithful cannot be measured.

David Scott is a member of CBMC of Greenwood, Indiana.