The Lord has been gracious to bless me with believing parents and a home church that, to this day, is very close to my heart. His Word and His transforming work in me assures me now of the presence of saving faith in me. Life and this world never made sense to me without God and so I don’t recall a time when I seriously doubted His existence. I had a faint, but nonetheless real awareness of sin and guilt as a child and so, from whenever I first heard the gospel and cognitively understood parts of it, I think I have always acknowledged my need for Jesus Christ, the only one who can save me and make me right with God through His death on the cross for me.
It wasn’t until middle school, however, that visible change started to take place. During the summer after 7th grade, I attended my church’s summer camp, the theme of which was “Unashamed.” I wish I knew the passages that were preached, but my guess is that Rom. 1:16 was one of them. Perhaps one of the speakers also talked about Mark 8:38, when Jesus says, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” This moment in my life sticks out because before that summer, I can recall specific instances of sin that made me look more like the world than the Christian I thought myself to be, like shamelessly using profanity, succumbing excessively to the fear of man, and being generally unwilling to identify myself as a Christian when I perceived that it would cost me. That summer I began to understand that compartmentalized religion is false religion, and I made more of an effort my eighth grade year to live for Christ not only in the comfortable realm of the church, but at school and in the other spheres of my life.
The totality of the Lordship of Christ over all of my life made the deepest, most memorable impact on me the following summer at camp, prior to starting high school. The passage through which the Holy Spirit convicted my heart was Revelation 3:14-22. This is when the Lord says to the church in Laodicea, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (3:16). Ever since that day, I have always had a particular hatred toward complacency in my own life. For the sake of His holy name, may the Lord never find me in that state!
Our pastor, Pastor McArthur, has expressed at least once before a fondness for 2 Cor. 3:18. It reads, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” God has been graciously doing just that during my four years at Grace Church and Grace on Campus. Greater revelation of His glory effectively shuts out lukewarmness that may creep into the soul. Our triune God is holy, worthy, and truly glorious! Through the constant Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching of His Word and Spirit-filled lives of His people around me, God has shown me more of His forgiving and transforming grace, more of His love that surpasses knowledge, more of the depth and extent of my sinfulness, more of the joy that is found in Him, more of the profound agonies of Calvary, more of the power of His gospel to save, and I can go on and on and on. May God do the same and so much more for His elect in Japan, through the exposition of His Word and through lives living according to it!
It wasn’t until middle school, however, that visible change started to take place. During the summer after 7th grade, I attended my church’s summer camp, the theme of which was “Unashamed.” I wish I knew the passages that were preached, but my guess is that Rom. 1:16 was one of them. Perhaps one of the speakers also talked about Mark 8:38, when Jesus says, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” This moment in my life sticks out because before that summer, I can recall specific instances of sin that made me look more like the world than the Christian I thought myself to be, like shamelessly using profanity, succumbing excessively to the fear of man, and being generally unwilling to identify myself as a Christian when I perceived that it would cost me. That summer I began to understand that compartmentalized religion is false religion, and I made more of an effort my eighth grade year to live for Christ not only in the comfortable realm of the church, but at school and in the other spheres of my life.
The totality of the Lordship of Christ over all of my life made the deepest, most memorable impact on me the following summer at camp, prior to starting high school. The passage through which the Holy Spirit convicted my heart was Revelation 3:14-22. This is when the Lord says to the church in Laodicea, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (3:16). Ever since that day, I have always had a particular hatred toward complacency in my own life. For the sake of His holy name, may the Lord never find me in that state!
Our pastor, Pastor McArthur, has expressed at least once before a fondness for 2 Cor. 3:18. It reads, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” God has been graciously doing just that during my four years at Grace Church and Grace on Campus. Greater revelation of His glory effectively shuts out lukewarmness that may creep into the soul. Our triune God is holy, worthy, and truly glorious! Through the constant Spirit-empowered preaching and teaching of His Word and Spirit-filled lives of His people around me, God has shown me more of His forgiving and transforming grace, more of His love that surpasses knowledge, more of the depth and extent of my sinfulness, more of the joy that is found in Him, more of the profound agonies of Calvary, more of the power of His gospel to save, and I can go on and on and on. May God do the same and so much more for His elect in Japan, through the exposition of His Word and through lives living according to it!