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Robert Liu Testimony

The beginning of my relationship with God is not flashy, nor is it unique.  God did not appear to me in a column of light.  I didn't have this immediate, drastic change in my way of life. You might hear this a lot, but I was born into a Christian family.  My parents took me (sometimes dragged me) to church every Sunday.  We prayed before every meal, and I guess God just became this...fact.

I say "fact" because I hadn't really been taught anything different.  Childlike faith is amazing in that regard.  I didn't question it at all, God simply WAS.  And he offered something that I wanted:  eternal life.

 

So I'd be a fool not to take it, right?  I truly believed in God, and I believed that God sent his Son Jesus to die for the world's sins.  And from what I had heard from my Sunday School teachers, believing that fact was pretty much the sole criteria for becoming a Christian.  Well, that and being a good person. And so, I became a Christian.  I said the prayer and...well, nothing changed.  I say that, but it's not like I continued to be trapped in a sin-filled life.  I was a pretty good kid to begin with.  There just wasn't any growth.  I never challenged my faith, never grew deeper in relationship with God, I just officially labeled myself a Christian now. Yet, even at that time, I knew something was missing.  I knew all (most) of the answers in Sunday School, I memorized my bible verses for the week (and then forgot them by the next week), and I tried my hardest not to sin and to be a good person.  Yet, I would look at my Sunday School friend, who became a Christian midway through her life, and be jealous.  I'd think, "Man, I wish I could SEE the effect of becoming a Christian had on my life, rather than being born into it and not knowing the difference."

 

I'd imagine that if I hadn't been born into the church, I'd be some sort of bad-boy;  then I'd find Christ and make a dramatic 180-degree turn-around.  At least then, I'd know something changed, right?  Rather than this, vanilla, no-change, lukewarm lifestyle that I was living.

Looking back now, I just didn't get it.  And looking at a lot of the youth now, I see a reflection of what I used to be in them.  Luckily, something happened.  My Sunday School class got yelled at. I don't know what we did to set her off, but one Sunday, my class got chewed out.  At the end of her tirade, I remember her saying, "You know, I don't even know if you guys are REALLY Christians."

At first, I was a bit upset and indignant.  How dare she!  I don't remember exactly what she said, but she said something to the effect of, "God didn't die for the world's sins, he died for YOUR sins." I think those words ate at me for a while.  For the longest time, I viewed God and Jesus as these almost fictional characters in a book.  I honestly believed they existed, yet I felt detached from their effect on me.  I knew Jesus died for the sins of all, yet I hadn't really grasped the idea that Jesus died for ME.  On a personal level, Jesus knew my sin and died so that I might be saved.

 

Suddenly, my relationship with God was revealed to be what it really was:  this shallow, surface level belief, rather than a real relationship.

Ever since, I've been working on it.  I've sought and pursued a deep relationship with God, and hopefully I'm on the right track.  I won't say that everything has been easy, nor will I say that I'm a "good" Christian (because honestly, if you think you're a "good" Christian, you probably need to examine your life).  But unlike my shallow spiritual life when I was younger, I can definitely see the effects and the fruits that are the result of my relationship with God now.