I read a story recently about a man and his family
who were taking a trip to New Zealand.
They had always wanted to go, so they saved up their money for several
years and took the trip. During the
flight, as they were filling out all the necessary customs and immigration
forms, the husband was struck by something he read. On one of the forms was the question of
whether or not either one of them had ever been arrested. Though this was a Christian couple, before coming
to Christ the husband had spent over a year in jail for burglary.
Wanting to be completely truthful on the form, the
husband marked yes in the box. When they
arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, an officer in customs questioned the man
about the offense. He explained the
story and also about how Christ had transformed his life. Unfortunately, the customs officer had little
interest in the second part of the story because they had one rule that said, “No
one who had spent more than 12 months in jail in their home country, would be allowed
into New Zealand.”
As a result, this man had to say goodbye to his wife
and kids and get on a plane and fly home.
It did not matter to those in the customs office what had taken place in
this guy’s life, because of that one mess up, he would never be allowed into their
country—it was a nonnegotiable.
This sad story should remind us believers of a
beautiful truth. Though there was
nothing that could be done for this man in this situation, though he could not
clear his criminal record so that he could enter into this beautiful country
with his family, spiritually his record had been expunged—removed—erased—wiped
out.
Believers, though mistakes from our past will follow many of us until we die and though we encounter people in this life who will forever hold the past against us, praise the Lord that is not true of God and his dealings with us.
