Contributed by G. Rwangmei
(in less than 1000 words; to be exact, 824 words)
A person who knows
Christ, follows Christ, and receives Christ as his personal Savior is a
Christian. Today, most Christians are known as "Christians" simply
because they were born and brought up in a Christian household. I was among the
many people who were so-called Christians. I always knew who God is—that is,
Jesus Christ. We were taught about Him and His works in Sunday school. I have
parents, five caring brothers, and friends around me. I have many reasons to be
happy, and I am indeed happy with all that I have right now. But despite
everything, I always felt incomplete, as though something crucial was missing
in my life—a missing puzzle piece.
I sought completeness
in life from my friends, books, hobbies, and other people. I thought that these
things would fill the emptiness I felt inside. Sometimes, I ventured off the
path and got lost, or forgot to come back to God. I didn’t always realize I was
drifting. At one point, I even wondered if God didn’t want me, or if maybe He
didn’t exist at all. Everything seemed to be going wrong, and I started to
doubt. I stopped praying, even the simple prayers I had been saying since
childhood. I stopped reading my Bible. I could feel the distance between God
and me growing wider. The bond that had once been strong was now drifting
apart, but I didn’t care enough to mend it. I never bothered to look back and
see where things had gone wrong, nor did I reflect on the state I was in from
God’s perspective.
The best thing I did
during that time was cry out to God. I asked Him to help me become prayerful
again, to draw me back to Him. I prayed for the strength to start reading the
Bible again and to delight in prayer once more. I didn’t realize at the time that
God was already answering my prayers. In the midst of my struggles, I thought
God had abandoned me because He didn’t fix my problems right away. But, in
reality, He was using those situations to teach me. He showed me that there’s
no completeness without Him, that in Him, I am truly complete. He made it clear
that He is all I need and everything to me.
Life began to get
better once I put God first. As I turned back to Him, things started falling
into place. I resumed reading my Bible, and I started praying again. Spending
time with God’s Word became essential for my spiritual growth. It wasn’t just
about fulfilling a religious duty, but about nurturing my relationship with
Him. God had been with me all this time, even when I forgot my promises to Him
and went astray. No matter how many times I stumbled, He always found a way to
bring me back.
At the end of the day,
I realized it was my God-given faith that had been pushing me forward through
life’s journey. There was no other motivation, no role model I followed to get
me through—only my faith in Him. I remembered the gospel—the good news—and the
love of Christ. He died for me. At times, I thought, “If God came now, would I
be ready? Would I be chosen to go to heaven?” I didn’t feel ready. I always
knew Christ died for me and that He loved me, but I had never truly grasped the
depth of that love—the sufficiency of His love, not my worthiness.
Now, I have realized
what it really means to be a Christian. Being a Christian is about experiencing
the love of Jesus and the power of His Spirit as we obey His Word. Christ died
for me, taking the penalty for my sin once and for all, so that I can be saved
forever, never to be lost again. I am free—free from the burden of sin, free
from the fear of judgment, and free from the wrath of God. I am God’s child in
Christ, not by my own doing, but by His sheer love and grace.
I can now proudly say
that I am going to heaven because I believe in Christ and trust that He has
prepared a place for me in His Kingdom. Moreover, as I live now, I live to
please Him. In pleasing Him, I find true meaning and completeness in life. “For
me to live is Christ, to die is gain,” as it was to the Apostle Paul
(Philippians 1:21).
Through this journey, I
have learned that only in Christ can we find what we are truly searching for.
No pursuit in this world can bring us the completeness that He offers. All of
us have moments where we feel lost, like we are missing something, but it is
only through turning back to Him that we find what we were always looking for.