September-October 1999
Through With God?
by Luis Palau
Right before the start of World War I, a French boy named Jean-Paul Sartre and his widowed mother were living with her parents.
The grandfather was Protestant, the grandmother a French Catholic. At the dinner table, the family patriarch and matriarch often poked fun at the other's religious beliefs.
"No malice was involved," Sartre remembered. Yet "I concluded from these exchanges that the two faiths were equally valueless. Even though my family saw it as their duty to bring me up as a Catholic, religion never had any weight with me."
By the end of the war, Sartre had grown disenchanted with the church. By age 12, he hated attending mass and resolved to go no more.
To seal his decision, Sartre stood before a mirror and cursed God. Three times he damned his Creator and then felt relief. He was through with God and church. He could live the rest of his days as he pleased.
Sealed Fate
Sartre viewed that event as a defining moment. He believed that when he cursed God, he had set his course for life and sealed his fate.
Sartre went on to make a name for himself. His political exploits are legendary, his writings definitive of mid-20th century atheistic existentialism. Yet, reviewing his life, Sartre swings between the extremes of heady pride and sexual liberation on one hand, and philosophical anguish and despair on the other.
Shortly before Sartre's death, however, he changed his mind. He told a Marxist journalist: "I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God."
I don't know your life story. Yet after talking individually with thousands of people around the world, I know many carry guilt for choices in their past. The Bible teaches that no one is without sin. But God offers us forgiveness and new life.
How tragic that Sartre allowed a decision in his youth to overshadow his life for nearly six decades! He spent most of his years embittered against others, struggling in vain for joy, meaning, peace and strength.
Two Wrong Assumptions
Although he may be one of the greatest 20th-century philosophers, Sartre committed two of this century's most prevalent errors in thinking.
First, Sartre confused his feelings with reality. You see this all the time. A man wakes up one morning, rolls over, sees his wife and realizes he doesn't have any loving feelings for her. His lack of feelings of love shocks him so much he decides it must be true. So he acts accordingly, forgetting that love is more than a feeling. In reality, it's a decision we have to make over and over again.
Second, Sartre confused an event with fate. When he cursed God, he felt he had sealed his destiny. There was no looking back, no recognition that he could choose otherwise. Until the very end of his life, Sartre cursed his fate as if he couldn't change it.
Perhaps you've done something you consider unforgivable. Maybe you've consciously cursed God or rejected the church. Maybe you've simply lacked the confidence to say, "God, if you're real, please make yourself real to me."
Like Sartre's father, my father (a successful businessman) died when I was a boy. As a 12-year-old, I too came to a point of decision. My European forefathers had little to do with the church. They debated religion but gave little thought to a personal relationship with God. Would I follow their footsteps?
Trust Jesus Christ
One night, after reading from the Bible and talking it over with an older friend, I decided to open the door of my heart to God through Jesus Christ, by faith. Looking back, I see how that one decision revolutionized the course of my life.
If Sartre could have done it all over, he would have lived for God, not against him. Yet why wait until the end of life to address life's most important question?
Whatever your past mistakes, I invite you, in Jesus' name, to come to God and trust Jesus for salvation. "But, Luis," you may say, "you don't know what I've done, the wrong choices I've made."
It doesn't matter. God knew the wicked things you and I would do before we were even born. Yet, he still extended his invitation to come to him, repent of our sin and receive abundant life. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Absolutely nothing you have ever done or could do will cause God to withdraw his invitation.
Let Him Forgive You
Have you accepted God's invitation yet? He's waiting for you with open arms. He longs for you to come to him. All he asks is that you confess your sins and let him forgive you on the basis of the cross and the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the only path to peace with God and a cleansed conscience.
It's not enough to feel sorry for all the wrong things you've done. It's not enough to say it's not your fault -- to blame sinful behavior on society, parents, spouse or some chemical imbalance.
The Bible says, "For God was pleased...through him [Jesus Christ] to reconcile to himself all things...by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20). God is ready to forgive. He will forgive adulterers and fornicators. He will forgive liars and embezzlers. He will forgive the self-righteous and hypocrites. He forgives all of us sinners the instant we believe in him with a repentant heart. You can seal your decision to follow him with a simple prayer of faith: Oh God, I know I am a sinner. Right now I repent and turn from my sins. I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, rose from the grave and is alive forever. I open the door of my heart and life, receiving Jesus Christ as my Savior. I want to follow him as Lord of my life. Thank you for forgiving me and giving me peace and joy and life eternal. Amen.
Don't delay any longer. Come to God today.
Copyright © 1999 Luis Palau and adapted from his new book, God Is Relevant (Doubleday), available at bookstores everywhere.
If you have prayed this prayer and committed your life to Jesus Christ, or if you would like further information on knowing Christ, please write us here at The Plain Truth. We look forward to hearing from you.
Luis Palau is an international evangelist who has preached the gospel to more than 12 million people in 64 countries.