A Life Transformed

A Life Transformed

God is in the business of changing lives.

NO ONE is a better illustration of this than Augustine. He was born on November 13, 354, in the town of Tagaste in Numidia, North Africa, now Algeria. His parents named him Aurelius Augustinus. His father, Patricius, was a minor noble who desired above all else that Augustine become cultured. His devout but domineering mother, Monica, wanted above all else that her son become a Christian.

As a boy Augustine was the exact opposite of what his mother desired him to be. To her dismay he became an accomplished thief and liar.

At the age of twelve, Augustine was sent to school, first in the old Numidian city of Madiera and then in Carthage. During these years he added sexual promiscuity to his catalog of sins, taking a mistress by whom he fathered a son.

In spite of his immoral lifestyle, Augustine excelled academically. He became an accomplished Latin scholar and went on to study rhetoric and philosophy, eventually becoming a teacher of rhetoric.

Religiously, Augustine was attracted to the sect of the Manicheans, which believed in the eternal coexistence of two kingdoms—light and darkness—which were in an eternal struggle. When his mother, Monica, learned he had become a Manichean, she threw him out of the house.

Ambition brought Augustine to Rome in 383 and to Milan, the imperial capital, in 384 as a professor of rhetoric. There he met Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, who challenged him to consider Christianity.

Then came a warm day in July 386 that changed Augustine’s life forever. Augustine was at his villa in Milan with his mother and his best friend, Alypius. That day Pontitian, an African Christian who was an officer of the imperial household, stopped for a visit. As they talked, Pontitian casually picked up a book lying on the table and was surprised to find it to be the epistles of Paul. That prompted Pontitian to relate how he had come to put his faith in Christ. He also told how two friends of his had decided to join a monastery and how their fiancées had also become Christians, dedicating themselves to virginity. Hearing the story of the two young women committing themselves to chastity pierced Augustine to the core. He suddenly realized that he was depraved and addicted to sex. How would he ever be able to extricate himself?

After Pontitian left, Augustine ran out of the house, overcome by his sin. In despair he flung himself on the ground underneath a fig tree. There he babbled, “How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow? Why not now? Why should there not be an end to my uncleanness now?”

Suddenly Augustine heard the plaintive voice of an unknown little girl singing a song with the simple words “Take up and read.” To Augustine these words came as the voice of God himself. Jumping up, Augustine ran and got the book containing Paul’s epistles. Opening its pages, his eyes fell on Romans 13:13-14: “We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don’t participate in wild parties and getting drunk, or in adultery and immoral living, or in fighting and jealousy. But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don’t think of ways to indulge your evil desires.”

Augustine later wrote, “Instantly as I reached the end of this sentence, it was as if the light of peace was poured into my heart, and all the shades of doubt faded away.” He immediately went into the house and told his mother that her prayers had been answered.

Now a changed man, Augustine went on to become the bishop of Hippo in North Africa and the greatest theologian between the apostle Paul and John Calvin.

Reflection

Augustine’s life was transformed from gross immorality to total commitment to Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, has God brought changes in your life? What have they been? If you are still on the way to becoming a Christian, what changes would you like God to make in you?

Let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you.

Romans 13:14