The Day I Met Jesus



July 15, 2005, around 7pm in the evening at the hospital, my father was preparing to go to the meeting hall. That was the time when he was about to be baptized. He asked me if I wanted to go with him. Surprisingly, without hesitation, I agreed, although in back of my mind, I said that I will just go there and watch. (But somehow, God has another plan for me...)

So I just sit there at the corner of the table, listening to the saints who were sharing about the mystery of human life. They asked, "Have you ever wondered why you are living in this world and what the purpose of your life is? "




At that time, I was a fresh college graduate, so the thought that ran through my shallow mind was, "Hmmm... my purpose is to find a good job to make much money or pursue graduate school and be successful in life."

But what they said next countered all my thoughts, and I realized that what they said were all true:
Money cannot satisfy man.
Education cannot satisfy man.

Pleasure cannot satisfy man.

Success cannot satisfy man.


And suddenly, there was this
really big question...

WHY?


Then, there were six keys that were unlocked to reveal this mystery to me:

1. God's Plan
God desires to express Himself through man (Rom. 8:29). For this purpose, He created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Just as a glove is made in the image of a hand to contain a hand, so also man is made in the image of God to contain God. By receiving God as his content, man can express God (2 Cor. 4:7)


2. Man
To fulfill His plan, God made man as a vessel (Rom. 9:21-24). This vessel has three parts: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thes. 5:23). The body contacts and receive the things of the physical realm. The soul, the mental faculty, contacts and receives the things of the psychological realm. And the human spirit, the innermost part of man, was made to contact and receive God Himself (John 4:24). Man was created not merely to contain food in his stomach, or to contain knowledge in his mind, but to contain God in his spirit (Eph. 5:18).


3. Man's Fall

But before man could receive God as life into his spirit, sin entered into him (Rom. 5:12). Sin deadened his spirit (Eph. 2:1), made him an enemy of God in his mind (Col. 1:12), and transmuted his body into sinful flesh (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 6:12). Thus, sin damaged all three parts of man, alienating him from God. In this condition, man could not receive God.


4. Christ's Redemption for God's Dispensing

Nevertheless, man's fall did not deter God from fulfilling His original plan. In order to accomplish His plan, God first became a man called Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14). Then Christ died on the cross to redeem man (Eph. 1:7), thus taking away his sin (John 1:29) and bringing him back to God (Eph. 2:13). Finally, in resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) so that He could dispense His unsearchably rich life into man's spirit (John 20:22; 3:6)


5. Man's Regeneration

Since Christ has become the life-giving Spirit, man can now receive God's life into his spirit. The Bible calls this regeneration (1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:3). To receive this life, man needs to repent to God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21; 16:31)


And then, it was something like veil after veil has been taken away so that my eyes would clearly see the Person behind the veil. And bit by bit, it seems like my heart that once was hard and closed, was suddenly opened and longed to know more about this wonderful Person who gave Himself and died on the cross to saved a wretched man like me. And then, He was there standing before me saying, "I love you. Do you believe Me?"

"...if you confess with your mouth, Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from among the dead, you shall be saved." - Romans 10:9

Then, the saints led us to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and we prayed to Him:

"Lord Jesus,I am a sinner.
I need You.

Thank You for dying for me.

Lord Jesus, forgive me.

Cleanse me from all my sins.

I believe You rose from the dead.
I receive You right now as my Savior and life.

Come into me! Fill me with Your life!

Lord Jesus, I give myself to You for Your purpose."

That very night, not only my father was saved and baptized. I too, (who didn't even planned about it, and was there originally just to watch and listen) was captured. I believed in the Lord Jesus by calling upon His name, and I was saved!

6. God's Full Salvation
After regeneration, a believer needs to be baptized (Mark 16:16). Then God begins the lifelong process of gradually spreading himself as life from the believer's spirit into his soul (Eph. 3:17). This process, called transformation (Rom. 12:2), requires human cooperation (Phil. 2:12). The believer cooperates by allowing the Lord to spread into his soul until all his desires, thoughts, and decisions become one with those of Christ. Finally, at Christ's return, God will fully saturate the believer's body with His life. This is called glorification (Phil. 3:21). Thus, instead of being empty and damaged in each part, this man is filled and saturated with the life of God. This is God's full salvation! Such a man now expresses God, fulfilling God's plan!


T'was five years now since I received the Lord Jesus.
T'was five years now since I have been in love with the most wonderful Person.
That time, it was the first time that I said: "Lord Jesus I love You."
Today, I will say: "Lord Jesus, I still love You. Lord, I give myself to You again. Lord, gain me fully for Your purpose."

1 Comments

  1. amen! what a wonderful testimony of the a lover of Christ and the One great magnet in the universe attracting so many people who were once bound and blinded by the world.

    -cha

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post

ADVERTISEMENT