[Not sure what age I was when this photo was taken - probably around 8 years old. It looks like a school photo.]
Day Share has been running for 5 years and I don't think I have ever told my story of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. At one stage I spent some time preparing a video but it was too pretentious and I abandoned this project.
The truth is that my faith story or testimony is very uneventful and ordinary. I have shared several dramatic stories of conversion but never my own. I have never been into alcohol or drugs. I have never been into crime. God's grace has spared me from the kind of lifestyle which Paul Algeo or Anne Marie Cook had.
But, it is hardly surprising because I was only five years old when I placed my simple faith and trust in my parents' Saviour. There are possibly many Christians like me who came to faith in childhood. At our church last Sunday, our speaker came from the Scottish Bible Society and he showed a statistic that a significant percentage (I am rubbish with figures) of Christians came to faith between the age of 3 and 5.
Now you cynics will be having a field day. How can a child of that age understand enough to make any meaningful commitment? And for years later I repeatedly heard a strange voice telling me that my conversion could not be genuine as I was too young - only a child. I believe that Satan was trying to derail my faith in its infancy. He will try any tactic to destroy our faith.
I would like to reflect on this experience as honestly as I can from various angles.
My faith has survived for many years. It has stood the test of time - 67 years is a long time to prove whether or not that wee boy in the Council house in Ardeer, Stevenston was genuine in his faith in Jesus Christ. I can look back over these years with great thankfulness and sing one of my favourite hymns from the depths of my heart - Great is thy faithfulness. I will play this great hymn at the end of the blog.
It was not the strength of my faith as a 5 year old which is important. What matters is the object of my faith. God who is all-powerful has held me firmly in His grasp over these years. I trusted in the death of His Son so my faith was built on a rock. If I had been trusting in my virtues or my strength of character, my faith would have hit the rocks many years ago.
I had the great privilege of being brought up in a family who all loved and served the Saviour. I had imbibed the simple truths of the Gospel even at age 5. I had been to Sunday School with a great Sunday school teacher by the name of Lisbeth Paton (the wife of Jimmy Paton). My parents lived the Christian faith day by day, hour by hour. They radiated Christian love in everyday life. My oldest sister, Agnes was 14 years older than me and she was a huge influence on my early years. 54 Misk Knowes was a lovely Christian home. Looking back on my childhood, our home must have stood out as different. Alcohol abuse was common among the working men in the street - not all of them, but a significant proportion of the fathers and sons lived for their drink especially at the weekend. The mothers did a great job in making sure that the children were looked after and well fed. They were all hard-working and caring and did everything to keep their family well looked after. My father did not smoke or drink and my mother was very careful with the household budget and prioritised putting food on the table. She spent her time cooking, baking, washing, ironing etc. and she was a very quiet, loving mother. So I am very grateful for my parents and for the godly influence of the folks in Bethany Hall, Stevenston.
But Jesus made a statement which is very relevant to my becoming a Christian as a child. It is also a great encouragement to me personally and to others whose faith journey began in early years.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. [Matthew 18:1-5 NIV]
Jesus emphasised the humility of the little child. He is telling the disciples that they should follow the example of children if they wish to enter the kingdom of heaven. I accepted totally and without question the gospel message which I had heard. I did not submit the teaching I received to any critical analysis. I did not apply any clever logic or elaborate theories. I simply accepted that I was a sinner who needed God's salvation. I simply asked Jesus to cleanse me from my sin and to come into my heart. All the intellectuals will mock at this language but my simple faith was placed on the death of Jesus at Calvary which was for me, for me alone as if I was the only person for whom Jesus had died. I remember having a conversation with my head teacher and one of the assistant head teachers about faith. The assistant head teacher had a brother who was a committed Christian and the head teacher had a Christian faith. The debate centred around where science seems to disprove the Bible. At one point in the discussion, the AHT turned to me and said, "I wish I could be as simple as you." I am not sure if you would think this was a compliment but I was happy that he recognised that my faith was uncluttered.
I have been studying the story of David, the shepherd boy who became king of Israel. I have known this story since my childhood in Bethany Hall but it has gripped me again with tremendous force. David learned to trust God as he looked after his sheep in the hills around Bethlehem. I am not sure what age he was when he encountered a lion and a bear and he had to fight them off with only a sling. It was not his prowess with this primitive weapon which made the difference. It was his simple faith and trust in God. When he visited the battlefield on a mission from his father to take food and supplies to his older brothers, he stood out as different for his simple faith in God. He was not overawed by the size of the Philistine giant nor intimidated by his armour and weapons. He recognised that Goliath had defied God and that 'the battle is the Lord's'.
There was an event in my young life which may well have provoked me to think about getting right with God. When I was only four years old, my grandfather died. His name was Robert Kilpatrick and I am called after him. My full name is Robert Kilpatrick Neilly. I have hazy memories of him and I would love to go into more details about him. My mother and he were very close and my memories of him are of a quiet, gentle man with a kindly disposition. I was not at his funeral but I remember going to the home of my Sunday School teacher while my parents were at the funeral. It may well have been his death which made me want to get right with God. I knew that my mother and father and my three older sisters were believers in Jesus Christ. I wanted to have the same faith as them.
I want to continue this story of faith by looking at a decision I made when I was fifteen years old. I hope to share this with Day Share readers next Wednesday.
Here are some photos of my childhood. The first picture was taken at the house where I was born it was a home birth) at Arthur Street, Stevenston. I am in my mother's arms. The last picture is from my 'back garden' at Misk Knowes, Stevenston. The boy on my right sadly lost his life in the Piper Alpha disaster in the North Sea in 1988. David McWhinnie was a close friend of mine in my early years.
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
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