My Testimony

I have always been a good kid.  From my life’s beginning, I have been raised in a Christian home, gone to church every weekend, and even went to Christian school.  More than that, I was a really good kid.  I was always receiving awards for Christian character and praise from teachers and other adults for how obedient and godly I was.  In terms of Bible knowledge, I was always at the top for someone of my age.  If anyone was to be a Christian, it had to be me.

I had even thought I was.  When I was about five, I “asked Jesus into my heart.”  I heard the story of how Jesus died for my sins and I did what I was told I needed to do to go to heaven.  However, I would hear the same message again a few weeks later and doubt would creep into my mind.  I would begin wondering if it really worked the last time.  I would “ask Jesus into my heart” again, just to make sure.  I did this many times throughout my time growing up.  I was never certain when I became a Christian, but I looked at my life and figured there had to be one time where I did it right, so I was set.

In terms of living like a Christian boy, I was all over that.  I continued to be the most obedient kid you knew.  I even received an award graduating sixth grade for the best male example of Christian character in the elementary school.  I did all the right things because I felt that is what I had to do.

The summer of 2007, the summer before I started seventh grade, I went on a missions trip to Mexico with the junior high group at my church.  We served families by building houses each day, but we also had messages and Bible studies.

August 21 was a Tuesday night.  I had heard a message on how Christianity is a complete surrender of everything and then spent time looking at my own life.

I saw there was never truly a point where I had gone from dead in sin to alive in Christ, a time where my heart of stone was removed and a heart of flesh was placed inside.  I had always done what was right, but I had only done so out of obligation, feeling it was what I had to do.  I saw that I called myself a Christian, yet my life was not all about Christ.  The cry of my heart was not to bring him praise, for I still had other things in my life which I had not given up to seek him.  I realized that I could not call myself a Christian and then continue to live for myself.

On that night, I repented of my sins and placed my trust in Christ.  The gospel had always been a story that was fresh in my mind.  I knew the facts: I am sinful, but Jesus lived the perfect life I failed to live.  I deserve hell because of my sins, yet on the cross Jesus died the death I deserve to die.  I lay dead in my sins, yet Christ rose again showing victory over death.  However, at that moment, I laid down everything.  I turned 180 degrees away from living for myself and turned towards living for Christ.  I threw away all confidence in myself and placed my trust in the work that Jesus Christ has accomplished.

Since then, it is amazing the work that the Lord has done in me.  From this day where I was saved, I have grown so much.  I now live with certainty of where I will go when I die.  I spend time everyday reading the Bible, not out of obligation but of a desire to do so, just as I, as a human, desire to eat food.  I spend time in prayer daily.  A relationship is nothing if you never talk to the person.  In the same way, prayer lets my communicate with God.  I have grown in humility, getting rid of the pride I had in the “godly” character I felt I had.  Evangelism, having no fear to share the gospel with others.  I am not afraid of what man can do to me, for I live to make disciples by speaking out with the truth.  I even stand up on the campus of my high school to speak at a club we have, the True North Christian Club, to declare the the gospel to all who will listen.

I am nowhere near perfect.  However, with the Spirit at work inside of me, I am growing in sanctification, the process of becoming more like Christ.  While I live in the flesh, I will never be sinless, but I will continue to grow in sinning less.