Most people here know that I came to know and love Christ mid-late 2017, and I’m so thankful that you have all played an important part in my journey and that you are here today. Becoming a Christian and obeying Christ is the most wonderful experience of my life.
I come from a typical Chinese family with mum being Buddhist and dad being atheist, and I’d always felt an inherent disconnect and dissatisfaction with those views, with one being too fanciful and the other quite saddening and aimless.
Ultimately this placed an immense focus on academic studies and extracurricular activities to develop myself and set myself up for the future.
This manifested itself in studying at an OC school, then at Baulkham Hills High School and being pushed to be involved in army cadets, house captain, prefects, etc., and I did it all because I wanted to please my parents.
Ever so slowly in high school I came to realise purpose has always been something given to me rather than something I found for myself.
I first heard about Jesus through high school friends and I thought He was a good intellectual exercise with little relevance to my life. After all, I had the HSC to get through.
However, I felt quite purposeless after HSC, as God filled me with a desire for something meaningful – I distinctly remember coming out of my HSC Chemistry exam, picking up my bag and thinking ‘is this it’?
I spent a lot of time reflecting on the world around me and it ultimately just seemed so meaningless and passing. It really was like King Solomon stated, “all things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)
And so, I came to university burning with questions and was welcomed by the Evangelical Union.
I questioned everything: the existence of God, the purpose of suffering, why Jesus, how can we trust Him?
I can’t imagine I was the most pleasant person to deal with, but everyone did so with love and patience and God slowly revealed to me the consistency and logic of His Word.
With reluctance and a lot of encouragement from many EU friends, I went to AnCon (Annual Conference) which was on the topic of the resurrection, one of my pressing questions.
It quickly became obvious that the Christian faith stands on this historical event, for “If Christ has not been raised, [our] faith is futile,” (1 Corinthians 15:17)
God in His wondrous grace revealed to me that He is all that He claimed to be and more, and that my idea of who I wanted God to be is irrelevant because He is so much better than anything I could ever ask for.
He “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20)
He offered all I could ever need: meaning, hope, forgiveness, love – things we all naturally seek in life which, however, are perishing in this world as most of us are personally aware of.
I
remember I sat down with a friend for the entire final night of AnCon and kept
trying to refute the resurrection, God’s existence and His control and
providence in all our lives. I could not bear to realise that I needed to
change my ways.
In His glorious grace, God removed from me my “heart of stone and gave me a [regenerate] heart of flesh”.
From that I had to realise that I was sinful and finite, which was quite hard as I was self-confident and thought I knew what was best for myself. I knew, though, that I needed to “deny [myself] and take up my cross and follow Him.” (Matthew 16:24)
I felt a desire to find a Christian community and came to this church (Gracepoint Lidcombe) and experienced a community that really is different to anything I’ve ever experienced, where Christ is at the centre of all we do.
Now life makes more sense. I have a clearer focus and purpose – no longer do I act for self-gain, but imperfectly I try to reflect God’s grace and to worship Him in all that I do.
As I press on in various trials and tribulations, God has continued to reveal that He is good and will sustain me to joyfully endure, because “we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
The more I learn about the sheer magnitude of what God has done for me – the more I see the need to share the good news to all.
While Sydney and Australia is generally quite well resourced, there are many members in our communities that are marginalised and vulnerable, and so like our Saviour “who did not come to be served but to serve,” I hope that one day I may be able to minister to those who are on the fringes of our society.
On the morning of my baptism, my mum said to me, “Don’t get baptised or don’t come home.” What am I to do? There really isn’t a decision to make. I can no longer deny the truth that life is hard, but God is good – not even to my parents, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem.
I hope you have seen the amazing things God has been doing in my life and I wish to ask you all, “Where do you stand before Jesus, the one true and living God?”
Allelous Community Group 