Automatically Generated Transcript

Hi everyone. To begin, I’d like to thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me that you’re all here. I’m here this morning to share a short testimony before I get baptised, as a public display and expression of faith.

The three elements that I’m going to cover are:
1. How I came to know God as a child;
2. My non-linear journey to becoming a Christian; and
3. Why I’m making this public declaration of faith today.

So, first I came to know God at quite a young age, as my parents raised me going to Toowong Baptist Church for as long as I can remember. My parents weren’t Christians initially, and, in researching how to best raise me when I was born, they concluded that Christian values would be the ideal foundation. So, they dragged me along to church regularly, brought me to Sunday school, and then sent me to a Lutheran school as well. Through these activities, I established the logical foundations and came to believe the facts of the basic tenets of Christianity.

So, how is this non-linear?
Well, as I grew older, rebellion, worldly goals, and aspirations took over, and I strayed semi-intentionally away from God. In particular, the idea that I could achieve almost anything on my own began to take root. One example of this is when I graduated from high school and was awarded my LMusA and felt that I didn’t need God. I didn’t need to rely on God – that I could do anything myself. Deep down, I always knew that what I was doing wasn’t right, but I persisted. And it’s interesting to see that even during this period, God was steadily working. I can see the constant knocking at the door not giving up on me despite my best efforts to bar that door and shut Him out of my life.

Moving on from this period proved to be quite difficult. I’ve always resorted to logic and reasoning, and while I can logically explain the vast majority of the decisions that I make in my life, I struggled to identify the exact process of how things changed. I’ve believed in the fundamentals as far as I can remember. Therefore, the only thing that I’ve concluded that really explains my progression over the last five or so years is that God has gradually softened my heart and opened my eyes to Him in a dimension outside of logic.

Despite an almost lifelong logical understanding and belief of what it means to be a Christian, I struggled with personally accepting and putting my faith in Him. This acceptance, ironically, required His help and strength for me to accept that it’s not by my own works or my own strength that this has occurred, but that it is God that has worked in me. This has been particularly difficult in a world where the other elements of achievement, persistence, and personal strength are otherwise celebrated.

Looking retrospectively, I can see that God has softened my heart and gradually led me towards Him with many pivotal moments including sitting in these very pews, hearing Jim giving calls after a simple gospel message, and then, while the call was being given, wondering:
“Why don’t I respond? What’s stopping me from responding?”

I’d often find these thoughts summoned again during reflective discussions, the most memorable one being in the baby room, on a summer afternoon, going through the logical aspects of Christianity, which I realised I substantially agreed with. However, when I was asked, “What are you going to do about this then? Why don’t you become a Christian?” I answered, “Well, I’m not really sure,” and proceeded to do absolutely nothing about it.

Upon reflection, this I think highlights that while I took security in the logical elements of Christianity, I found that personally accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and committing my life to Him was really a substantial hurdle, only overcome by letting God work in my life.

Ephesians 2:8-9 sums this up nicely, I think:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works.”

To conclude, my journey to Christ highlights the ineffectiveness of my own efforts and the importance of trusting in God. Although I pride myself on effective logical reasoning and understanding, letting go of these things and trusting in the Lord were the biggest hurdles for me. While I struggle to pinpoint exactly when and exactly how these changes occurred, today marks the recognition that, through God’s strength, they have. And I’m getting baptised this morning in obedience and gratitude to the God who never gave up on me.