We continue with our series of four stories of brothers and sisters who have come from a South Asian background, been exposed to God’s word, have turned from darkness to light, and are growing to serve our Lord Jesus more. Read the first one here.
“For the first twenty-one years of my life, I believed I was a Christian. I believed that going to church on Sundays would be the only qualifier for my Christian faith and my walk. Going into work and getting a stable career was my target in life. I saw God as a rescue out of my immediate troubles (getting a better mark in school, getting a good outcome in an interview, etc.), but nothing that lasted. I sought a high-paying job, with a career progression that was never-ending. I even saw that in my Christian walk, and started comparing myself against others with the level of faith that they had.
In retrospect, I knew very little of the Bible. I always thought that God was harsh and cold in the Old Testament and Jesus was the meek and mild teacher that unfortunately died in the New Testament. I knew John 3:16 by heart (I could recite it on command), but I never really dug deep into what it really meant. I knew that sin was bad, but I always thought it was the bad things that I was doing (lying, fighting, teasing, etc.); I didn’t realise the gravity of it back then.
That’s before I read the Bible intentionally. When I was out of university, I was invited to join a Bible study by my friend, and to spend some one-on-one time with him. I thought that this would be an opportunity to learn more, keep myself active and thinking, as well as challenge my notions about God. But as I continued to go to these studies, continuing to look at what God has done for us, I was deeply challenged.
I realised that my characterisation of God and Jesus was completely off track. He isn’t a butler at my whim or someone to get me out of my troubles; he is the creator and sustainer of all, giving us our life, our breath, everything! I saw that God is consistent in his character throughout the Bible – he is loving, kind and jealous for his people. Our sin, our tendency to live life our own way without God, disrupted that loving relationship between us and God. God would have been right to judge me, and I needed rescue.
Reading the Gospel of Mark, I was confronted with the realisation that Jesus is the Son of God and my Lord. I was struck by my depravity and sin. I found comfort in what Jesus had done for me, by taking the punishment for my sin all upon himself by dying on the cross. More than that, he was raised from death, and through that act, I have a guarantee of eternal life! There was the true showcase of God’s love for the world.
With that realisation, I wanted to live with Jesus as my Lord. I started to challenge myself to know more and more about what God continues to do in the hearts of his people. Realising how godless the old me was, I explored how best to serve my brothers and sisters in Christ in their Christian walk. Just as Christ came not to be served, but to serve, I saw how God was leading me to Christ, through his teaching and his actions, and the people that serve him to this day.”