KEVIN MATTATALL: An experience of faith

It seems that the older generation has always thought that the younger generation lacked understanding about life. The truth is the only difference between the old and the new is not knowledge but experience.

There is no substitute and no replacement for the wisdom that someone gains through experience. You can know all the right answers if you Google it and yet you are unable to relate to someone with a problem because you lack having any experience with the problem.

I remember at funerals saying to someone who was grieving that I was sorry for their loss. The trouble was I hadn’t lost anyone close to me so I said the right thing, but I was speaking from the shallow end of experience.

After my mom died, my dad died, one sister and one brother died my same words at a funeral carried a much heavier weight.

My knowledge about death hadn’t changed but the poison arrow of death had hit close to my heart. Death’s bitter pill put me at a loss without answers and tears without reason.

I was both sad that they were gone and glad that they were no longer suffering.

Experience was my tutor and my words were enhanced by my experiences with death.

When a parent tells their teenager not to go somewhere it can be to protect them from harm. The teenager lacks experience and can’t see any hidden danger. The parent, on the other hand, has been down certain roads and wants their child to miss certain hurts.

The generation gap is often the distance between the parents’ experience and their teens lack of experience. The good news is most teens do recover but the bad news is for those that don’t recover it’s an endless nightmare for the parents.

After my mom died, my dad died, one sister and one brother died my same words at a funeral carried a much heavier weight.

The hymn writer said, “Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died On Calvary.”

The Christmas season is more than an event of lights and gifts but its God offering us a personal experience with His Son Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the world.

“Oh the love that drew salvation’s plan, oh the grace that brought it down to man, oh the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.”

I remember for many years Christmas to me was merely an event. I thought it was a money grab for stores and parents who were trying to give gifts to make up for past mistakes.

The only glow of Christmas that I knew about was made possible with the help of lots of alcohol.

Then in my 20s I accepted Christ and had a personal encounter with God and everything changed. My change was not so much my knowledge about Christmas but it was my experience with Christ.

Now I love going to church, it’s my happy place, it’s where I worship God and fellowship with lots of great people who are trying to live a better life.

If all you have is knowledge about God and you pray to a God who is somewhere out there, then you have missed the main reason for the greatest story that’s ever been told to be told. Christmas is not about us knowing about a baby in a manger but it’s about us having our own personal experience that by faith we can have a living God living in our hearts.

How about you? Are you looking to find more than gifts under a tree? Are you thinking that there must be more to life than what you have? Are you searching for answers to make sense for what you’re going through?

Why don’t you start your journey of faith by attending church? I know for many your past knowledge of church can be a turn off but with Christ as your Saviour and Lord, church is a brand-new place.

In church you’ll encounter people who will love you and will help you to have a miracle experience with Jesus and live a better life. God bless you all.

Kevin Mattatall is the pastor of the Cape Breton Christian Fellowship Church. For comment or prayer email: [email protected].