Teaching A 6-Year-Old The Bible

JIm Boice’s Story

Jim Boice, one of the greatest preachers of the last century, now with the Lord, wrote a little story about John Newton. Newton penned Amazing Grace.  

Newton was raised in a Christian home where he was taught verses of the Bible by his mother. However, his mother died when he was only six years old.  He was sent to live with a relative who hated the Bible and mocked Christianity. So, John Newton ran away to sea.  

John Newton At Sea

He was wild in those years and was known for being able to swear for two hours without repeating himself. He was forced to enlist in the British navy, but he deserted, was captured, and beaten publicly as a punishment. Eventually Newton got into the merchant marine and went to Africa.  

In his memoirs he wrote that he went to Africa for one reason only, quote: “That I might sin my fill.” 

Newton fell in with a Portuguese slave trader in whose home he was cruelly treated. This man often went away on slaving expeditions, and when he was gone his power passed to his African wife, the chief woman of the harem. She hated all white men and vented her hatred on Newton. For months he was forced to grovel in the dirt, eating his food from the ground like a dog. He was beaten mercilessly if he touched it.  

In time, thin and emaciated, Newton made his way to the sea where he was picked up by a British ship making its way up the coast to England. When the captain of the ship learned that the young man knew something about navigation as a result of being in the British navy, he made him a ship’s mate. But even then Newton fell into trouble.  

One day when the captain was ashore, Newton broke out the ship’s supply of rum and got the crew drunk. He was so drunk himself that when the captain returned and struck him on the head, Newton fell overboard and would have drowned if one of the sailors hadn’t quickly hauled him back on board. 

Near the end of one voyage, as they were approaching Scotland, the ship ran into bad weather and was blown off course. Water poured in and the ship began to sink. The young degenerate was sent down to the hole to pump water.  

The storm lasted for days. Newton was terrified. He was sure the ship would sink and he would drown. In the hole of the ship as he desperately pumped water, the God of all grace, whom he tried to forget but who had never forgotten him, brought to his mind Bible verses he had learned in his home as a child. The way of salvation opened up to him. He was born again, totally transformed. 

Later, when he was again in England, he began to study theology, eventually became a preacher in a little town called Olney and later in London. His story is contained in these words which he penned: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 

God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished one will not be cast out from Him. 2 Samuel 14:14b. 

Father, our lives are like dust tossed into the winds of this world. It is impossible for us to pull our lives back into anything meaningful, except by Your mercy and grace. You will go to the ends of the earth to capture every dust particle of our lives, bring it all together and create life out of dust; life abundant! I am forever grateful that Your Amazing grace has saved a wretch like me. Amen!