Changed

In what I would consider as the closest thing I've had to a two-day weekend, I witnessed friends from church share their conversion testimonies during baptism. The venue was a private pool just blocks away from the church building. A colorful tarpaulin shielded the rest of us from the intense morning sun. We must've looked like a family on a reunion, or an outing—the look of anticipation and excitement on our faces must've been unmistakable. The baptism ceremony is something I personally look forward to year after year, if only to remind myself of my own coming-to-Christ narrative.


There's nothing quite like the experience of hearing people say they have come to know Jesus Christ personally, and what that has done to them. A former sex addict who now turns to God for grace to overcome lust, a wife who follows Christ despite her unbelieving husband's discouragements, a rebellious daughter whose heart now longs after her Savior, or a Sunday school kid who realizes his need for redemption—these were some stories that moved us, reminding us ultimately that God changes even the hardest of hearts.

I turn to these real-life accounts when I hear people say they do not believe in Christianity at all. Changed lives constitute one of the greatest proofs of the living Christian faith. The spiritually dead have come into newness of life, because God has breathed life into them through Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross. He died for us while we were yet sinners. This fact is central to our transformation. God ultimately initiates and finishes the work of salvation. No man can do that nor add to that. No man can ever save himself from damnation, a reality that comforts the believer because he is assured that even in his helplessness, Jesus Christ has shown him mercy beyond compare.

It amazes me how God creates narratives of His grace and mercy in each of his children's lives. I can imagine that, in Heaven, we will have an eternity to spend sharing and celebrating each of our stories.