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| Home / Inspiration / Testimony - Revelation, Not Rationalisation & Common Concerns on Christianity | [SET AS HOME PAGE] |
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A THINKING CHRISTIAN For many years, I have tried to make sense of God using my human understanding. Since childhood I have been an exceedingly "thinking" type "mind" person, I grew up with the tendency to rationalise EVERYTHING around me. I knew God was real (ok I had SOME faith), but I did not understand how He worked. I read apologetics and thought a great deal about actual phenomena around me to make sense of what's happening and how God is part of this whole equation. I was looking for logical reasons for my faith. NO TO "RELIGION" Being one who intensely dislikes tradition, ritual and any tinge of legalism, the idea of a "religion" of doing things exactly right to earn favor from a supernatural being was not at all appealing. It's tiring to keep thinking that you need to EARN favor and acceptance from a higher being, and unhealthy fear sets in especially when you think you have done something wrong that will make the higher being angry. A DIFFERENT INITIATIVE But there was something different about Jesus. It's a case of God coming to reach man instead of the other way round. We don't have to EARN our love and acceptance from him, because we are already loved and accepted by him. He died for us when we were still estranged from him1, so that we can CHOOSE to come to him. Love and acceptance are vital to anyone... no human being can ever love or accept us 100%, and in some cases, some may not even completely love and accept themselves. But knowing that God loves and accepts us is a good enough reason for us to be able to love and accept ourselves, not in a self-seeking way, but in a way that acknowledges who we really are in Christ. By knowing and accepting our true identity in Christ, we can truly be free, free to do what we were meant to do in this world. ABSOLUTES IN A RELATIVE WORLD It is natural to be afraid about entrusting our lives 100% to anyone else because we don't know what that person is up to. In other words, we might have this notion that EVERYTHING is relative and there are no certainties, no absolutes in this world. But deep inside, many of us yearn for things which are absolute, like knowing if for sure our lives will turn out well. The idea of everything being relative can be terribly distressing, but the absolute truth of God, his love and acceptance, I found out, is comforting. He is an unchanging God in a changing world, and we can cling on to His assurances. GOD'S NATURE AND RIGHTS I have realised that God is absolutely sovereign and good. Many times I have actually doubted God's intentions, and as many times I was proven wrong because He is absolutely benevolent. The only way to verify this is to trust Him yourself, but we must come to Him with the right attitude. He will only do things that are according to His will, so He will not grant self-seeking requests. Neither will he entertain unreasonable requests from people just out to mock Him or prove Him wrong. He knows He is sovereign so He does not need to defend himself, nor need anyone to defend Him. But He wants people to tell others about Him and what He did in their lives. I have learnt that because He is God, so He alone has the right to set the terms by which we come to Him, which are thankfully benevolent terms. It's true that God is love (note the use of the word "is"), that He loves people and wants them to come to Him. But He is also an absolutely holy God who will not tolerate sin. In other words, He loves the sinner but hates the sin. For those who have chosen to come to Him and receive His forgiveness, when he looks at us, He does not look at our sin, but at Christ's righteousness, because we have accepted Christ to BE our righteousness (we can never be good enough for God by ourselves, without Christ. If humans could be good enough for God on their own, then Christ would have died for nothing.) That's the basis of us being unable to EARN our salvation2, because salvation is freely given (by Christ's death on the cross) and we have a choice to receive it or not. I chose to receive it. I am not weakened by admitting that I cannot face life's problems alone and acknowledging that I need God. Instead, I am strengthened by him because I chose to receive the full package of what He has for me. WHOLENESS & HEALING God's business of healing greatly intrigued me. I wondered what it meant when the broken-hearted and wounded testified that they were "healed"... was it just a change in their way of thinking that it didn't hurt anymore, or was it just godly moral support that came from the church? Later I learnt that it was a supernatural godly assurance that comes from a conscious choice to believe that it is God's will that they be (emotionally) whole, and so they would be healed. Of course, this comes with discerning God's will and timing. God wants us to be whole so that we can be the person He has intended us to be, to be able to live life to the fullest. Healing does not come instantly, and it takes time for us to recover from emotional hurts, especially the more deeply-rooted issues. While we allow God to walk through the hurting issues with us, we can still choose to live as freely as we can be until our full recovery... we can choose to allow God to take away our burdens and past hurts so that we can be healed. REVELATION, NOT RATIONALISATION My natural skepticism did come into the way of me believing many of the things that God did in the church, in particular the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (evidenced by speaking in tongues.) Generally what I used to do was to give the benefit of the doubt to the person who was speaking in tongues, because it's a private matter between that person and God, and I didn't want to judge. I even debated about the neccessity of speaking in tongues, and the Christians (those who were the more "thinking" type like myself) who discussed this with me told me that it is biblical and people who received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit were (statistically) more empowered in ministry, and it was a matter of whether I wanted it or not. Logically it sounded like something good, but I doubted it the first time I prayed to receive it. It was a tough mental struggle. Then during another service, I decided to take a step of faith and prayed again to receive it. This time I knew I received it, the friends and pastors around me also affirmed that I have received it, and now after some time I still know for sure that I really did receive it. It was a divine revelation of faith to me. Faith isn't logical, it's ABOVE logic. I finally understood what God meant when he said his ways and thoughts are higher than ours.3 I WILL NOT ARGUE with anyone about my faith because this is not a head issue. There's no way we can rationalise God or how He works. But once we have a REVELATION of who He is, we know what we ever need to know in this life. Q. I want to be a Christian. What do I do? A. Pray this prayer aloud5 on your own. God sees your heart and knows if you are serious about Him. Lord Jesus I acknowledge that I have sinned, and that I cannot save myself. Thank You for dying on the cross for me so that I can be forgiven; And for rising again to let me live a new life in You. I invite You into my life to be my personal Savior and Lord of my life. I renounce worshipping anything/anyone else and will follow You only from now onwards. I thank You and love You. In Jesus' Name Amen. If you had prayed that prayer (or the gist of it) and meant it wholeheartedly, then you have accepted Christ into your life and became a Christian. Congrats for your greatest decision! :) Read your Bible daily to hear what God wants to say to you, and pray consistently. By spending time with God, you will know Him better, and you will also know who you are in Him, and it will change your life forever... because you know you can be secure in an unchanging, perfect, loving heavenly Father. It's also important to join a church for fellowship.6 The purpose of church is not for purely social reasons, or for ritual, or to make a pastor look good, or even to be made 'holy' (remember going to church alone doesn't make anyone a Christian), but to meet up with other Christians on a regular basis to seek God together. The Christian walk is never easy, so we all need encouragement in our Christian life, and also be around to encourage others. In church, we can also learn more about God and how to be a better Christian from the sermons and from hearing the experiences (testimonies) of other Christians. Pb's ThinkTank - [Personality] [Inspiration] [Testimony] [Texts] [Design] [Games] [Blog Home] |
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Q. Why are some Christians so pushy? A. It's the case of evangelical fervor that sometimes makes them lose focus. They get caught up in trying to "convert" others, forgetting that it's the Holy Spirit that draws people to God, not their own eloquence or efforts. Their job is to show God's love, evangelism is meant to be motivated by love and not an increase in church attendance. In some cases, they may be persistent in asking you to receive Christ because they care enough about you to be enthusiastic for you to share and experience the same joy and freedom they have personally experienced. Just imagine yourself talking to your own friends when you have got good things to share with them. It is the same case with Christians sharing the gospel with you. Q. But there are so many hypocrites in church...? A. Remember that Christians are human too, just that they have chosen to accept God's forgiveness. Sometimes they do not appear to practice what they preach because they are still humans who make mistakes. They are "saints who sometimes sin." That's why they need God's continual forgiveness, to have a consistent repentant attitude before God. Godliness does not come overnight, it has to be a lifestyle. Also remember that there are many non-Christians who attend church as well. The act of going to church does not make you a Christian, receiving Christ as your Savior does. Q. If I become a Christian, I cannot do what I want. A. If you think that being a Christian means that you can't have fun anymore, and that there will be a long list of dos and donts, think again. Remember that God is a benevolent Father who has a good plan for you, and wants the best for you.4 So it's the question of you exercising your free will to decide whether you want what God has to offer you, your personal decision of accepting or declining God's best. I have learnt that true freedom is found in Christ, only in His will can I be free. Q. Then where does good works come into the picture? A. Remember that we can never be good enough for God on our own, so even our kindest acts or being a 'good person' alone cannot EARN our salvation. Salvation is through Jesus' death on the cross alone, and our job is just to receive salvation by faith. It is only after you accept Christ where you have a personal relationship with God, and we would want to please God by doing what He says, and He wants us to be nicer people. So doing good deeds is not something that can earn us salvation, but is instead an expression of love for God and people. Q. Summarise the gospel in a nutshell. A. God loves us (John 3:16, Romans 5:8) Man has sinned (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23) Christ is the answer (John 14:6, Acts 4:12) Faith is the key (Romans 10:9-10, John 1:12) REFERENCES 1 Romans 5:8 2 Ephesians 2:8-9 3 Isaiah 55:8-9 4 Jeremiah 29:11,13 5 Romans 10:9-10 6 Hebrews 10:24-25
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