Mike

Being raised up in a pagan family, I grew up with a thought that there were many supernatural beings that could help you in time of need. I neither knew who they were, nor cared to know who they were. I only knew that the way to live my life was to pursue everything for myself. I tried to fill my every waking hour with pleasure-seeking activities in my earlier years.

I used to tell people that my life was colorful and fulfilling. Yet late in the night, lying on my bed alone, often I asked myself "what is next?" Things that seemed to satisfy me for a while always disappeared soon, just like feeling hungry again not too long after having a big meal. Why? I did not know the reason; I only kept chasing endless empty dreams. This continued until I heard that there is only one God in the universe and He wants to get into you to be everything to you. I accepted Him and was saved.

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me,
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves even me.

To know that I was a vessel created by God for the purpose to contain Him was quite a revelation. Without Him, I was a vessel filled with something other than Him, thus I always felt I wanted something more. He is the one who puts eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). Without Him, we could never be satisfied. For this, my heart fills with thanksgiving, "for once I was blind and now I see".

Several years after I was saved, I started to ask another question, " Now I am saved. I am eternally saved. Lord, do I just sit here waiting to be with You someday?" When we turn to Him, He is faithful to appear to us. He shows me, through His word, that the breadth and length and depth and height of His riches are to be apprehended by all the saints (Eph 3:18) together. Our fellowship is not only with the Father but also with one another (1 John 1:2, 7). For we are saved to be built up as the Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:12-13; Eph 1:22-23). This revelation strengthens me for my going on. I no longer just seek things for myself, now I pursue with all the brothers and sisters for the purpose of God.

God desires all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4). Come! You, too, could be filled with God and be built together with others to be a dwelling place of God for His glory (Eph 2:21-22). Although I was only twelve years old when I first met the Lord, I remember it quite well. At that time in my life, I had felt quite a bit of uncertainty about many things, but I think the thing which concerned me the most was the future, especially my eternal future.