Allen's Teacher

One of the great things about one-on-one study at language school is that I've had many opportunities to share the Gospel with my teachers. My favorite teacher, Luis, is an unfaithful Roman Catholic who said that God sent me to him at just the right time.

Luis recently had a student for three months who was an atheist. Luis was close to proposing to his girlfriend he has had for six years, but this student told him, "Marriage is bad. Don't do it Luis, you'll be unhappy the rest of your life!" For whatever reason, his student convinced him not to propose. But even worse, this student placed many seeds of doubt the existence of God. Luis said that he really questioned if there was a God. His whole life seemed as if a little dark cloud followed him everywhere he went.

Luis then proceeded to tell me that ever since I’ve been his student, all we’ve talked about is God and the Bible. Everyday he comes to class with a new set of questions for me; typical questions like,

“Are there many ways to God?”
“How can one get to God?”
“How can I grow my faith in Christ?”
“Why is the cross the symbol of Christianity?”
“If God is a loving God, why is there so much suffering and pain in the world?”

When Luis asked the last two questions, I think God gave him a break through. I told him that his two questions were related. Though there is not a good, quick, all encompassing answer to why there is suffering in the world, the cross is where the answer is met. Jesus underwent the worst suffering and pain on the cross, yet he was innocent and did not deserve such treatment.

Then I explained that the cross is like D-Day that secured V-Day for WWII. In the same way, Jesus defeated the battle against Satan, sin, and death on the cross so that the ultimate war would be won at the resurrection. The cross was our D-Day that insures our V-Day with Christ at His coming. At that moment, Luis put his dry erase marker to his mouth while looking up and said, “Ah, the cross is not just a symbol of death but of victory as well.” The Lord is obviously working on Luis. Pray that God would open Luis’ heart and make him a new creature in Jesus Christ!