My Testimony

Today, March 13, is my 16th spiritual birthday. It is the anniversary of the Sunday night in 1994 on which I asked God to save me from my sin and to make me His child. And I know that He did, because “whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21).
I had begun to understand salvation before that evening, and I certainly have come to a far richer understanding of it in the years since. However, it was on that night at church that I decided to make a public decision to follow Christ. My testimony is not nearly as dramatic as that of many Christians, who testify that when they were saved their life was dramatically changed from one of sin and deep pain to one of joy and righteousness. I was only days shy of my tenth birthday when I became a Christian, so there was hardly that kind of drastic outward change in my life. But to deny any profound change at all would be wrong.
You see, the Bible promises that anybody who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, no matter what their age, has “passed from death into life” (John 5:24). It may not have been visible, but on that day my entire spiritual destiny was changed from eternal separation from God (guaranteed by the fact that I had sinned against Him) to eternal life (guaranteed by the fact that Jesus had died to pay the penalty for my sin). It also meant that, even though my testimony may not have been as dramatic as some, I had a chance that not all Christians receive – the chance to truly know God and walk with Him from an early age.
Ever since that evening, I have grown stronger in my faith and in the knowledge of Jesus. That doesn’t mean I never struggle in life or never fail to please God in living according to His ways. But I also have come to understand that spiritual salvation was never my doing, and it is not my effort that keeps me saved. Jesus said that all who come to Him are drawn by God Himself (John 6:44), and Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). I can no more be saved and stay saved by my own good works than a person can become a car by sitting in a garage. It took God to work in my heart to show me my sin and need for a Savior and to draw me to respond to that revelation by placing my full faith and trust in Him to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Once I am saved, I will always belong to Christ, because Jesus promised, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish – neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28).
So today is a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving for me. I shall be eternally grateful to God for giving me new life in Christ. My goal now is to please Him in every area of my life and to fulfill His will for me while I live on this earth. Part of His will is that I tell others about what He has done for me.
Perhaps you are reading this and do not understand what I am talking about. I would love nothing more than to know that, even if nothing else that I ever write encourages or ministers to anyone, this piece has helped just one person to understand personally the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
This knowledge is good news, but it starts with very bad news. Why do we have to be saved in the first place? The Bible says that each one of us has sinned against God’s perfect laws – we have lied, or stolen, or cheated, or hurt someone else, or been prideful and selfish. All these attitudes and actions are sins, and God cannot allow any sin – not even the least bit – into His presence. John writes that “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). This means that our sin, which is darkness, can do nothing except separate us from God – not only from fellowship with Him while we live on earth, but also from being in His presence in heaven after we die. What is more, we cannot reverse our condition by trying to live good lives, because the Bible also says that even our best efforts at righteousness “are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6. In other words, those efforts, even at their very best, cannot begin to meet God’s holy and perfect requirements.
What hope is there, if we cannot possibly save ourselves from our own sin even if we wanted to? What is impossible with humans is possible with God (Matthew 19:26). God loves the people that He created, and He does not want their situation to be as it is. He loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ, His own Son, who is equal with God Himself, down to earth to be a human and to die for them so that they might truly live. How could Jesus’ death save us? Jesus, being divine, lived a sinless life on the earth even while confining Himself to the imperfect constraints of humanity (2 Corinthians 5:21). At His death, God poured out on Jesus all the sins that humans had and would ever commit – and Jesus bore them all in His own body as He died as a sacrifice for us. Thus God’s wrath was satisfied, having been taken out on His own Son, who deserved none of it. Three days after He died, God raised Jesus from the dead, proving that He accepted this wonderful sacrifice. This made it possible to transfer Jesus’ own perfect righteousness to the sinful people who simply believe on Him with all their heart.
Do you see that Jesus has done it all for you? All that He asks is that you believe that He died for your sins and rose again the third day (Romans 10:9). He wants you to confess that you have sinned against Him, and to be truly willing to turn from your sin and to Him; He calls you to trust that His sacrifice alone is sufficient to save you completely and to make you His child. If you ask Him to save you in this way, and mean it with all your heart, He will do it. Jesus Himself promised – “Him that comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John 6:37). He also said that all of heaven rejoices when just one person comes to be saved (Luke 15:7). Christ’s Spirit will come into your heart and life forever and help you to live in a way that pleases Him (John 16).
Thank you for reading about the greatest subject any writer could write about – and I pray that you will truly take what I have written to heart. I will close with the words of one of my favorite hymns:
“And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain;
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love, how can it be;
That Thou my God shouldst die for me?

He left His Father’s throne above,
So free, so infinite His grace;
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race.
‘Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O My God it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Mine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown through Christ my own.”