Tag: gospel

Testimony

When I grew up, I always believed in God and went to church with my family. But God wasn’t the most important aspect of my life. I had my own interests. For example, I liked football and Sunday’s at church, I was often thinking about what football match was on the television later.

When I was 17 years old, I realised that most people around me didn’t bother thinking about God, reading the Bible or going to church, but nevertheless seemed happy. So, I thought I would try to give these up as well. After a while though I realised that I couldn’t live this way. I felt empty and surrounded by darkness if I didn’t think about God. Thus, I soon returned to my religious way of life but it still seemed like something was missing.

Not long after this I went to university. I studied chemistry and had big plans to become a professor and maybe even discover something new! I knew that there was a Christian student group at my university, but I was unsure if I wanted to go.

At the beginning of the academic year, there was a Fresher’s fair. This is an event where different student groups and organisation have a table and present their activities. Students who want can sign up. I made an understanding with God that I would go and pass through the fair once. If I saw the Christian union table I would stop and talk to them. If not, I would understand that it wasn’t God’s will for me to get involved with them.

I went to the fair and quickly passed through the long hall that it was situated in. I didn’t see any Christians, so I hastily exited via a side door and hurried away, glad that I had fulfilled my side of the bargain and was now free to continue with what I wanted to do.

However, this wasn’t the end of the story. As I began my studies, I realised that I didn’t really like what I was studying (it was Chemistry after all!). Not only that, I am a closed person and don’t make friends easily. As a result, I began to feel down. This caused me to start putting deeper questions about life. What is the point? Where am I headed? What is there after death?

Especially, the question about my final destination bothered me. I saw that after death, we just become nothing. But if we become nothing, then what we do in this life doesn’t really matter, as we all end up not existing and one day forgotten, no matter what we do or achieve in this life. This thought was hard to swallow and caused me much soul searching.

One day though, the thought occurred to me Why don’t you pray to the God that you have heard so much about at church and in the Bible? If He really exists, then maybe He will answer, if not, then you haven’t lost anything!

So, this is what I did! After praying to God and asking Him, if He’s there, to help me and reveal Himself to me, He Did!

There were a number of things through which He spoke to me. The main one was that Bible verses started to come alive, as if they had been written especially for me. For example, Matthew 6:33 –

‘But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.’

From here it was as if God was saying to me that up until that point, I had really been seeking my way; although I acknowledged God, He wasn’t the centre in my life. I realised that this needed to change, and I realised how!

At the beginning of the next academic year, I prepared myself to head for the Fresher’s Fair again, this time with a different frame of mine; to find the Christian Union stand at all costs!

So, the day came and after morning classes at the university, I summoned up the courage and started making may in the direction of the said Fresher’s Fair. On the way I bumped into one of the students I knew who studied together with me. He asked me where I was going. I said to the Fresher’s Fair to which he replied that he also wanted to go there. This produced a dilemma.

Initially, I strolled along with him towards our common destination. I made no mention of my intention to look for the Christian group. Maybe he would change his mind, or something come up on the way to separate us. Alas, to no avail. Thus, as we approached the Fair, I realised that I was going to have to make my first public confession of Christian interest. ‘I’m going to look for the Christian Union!’, I managed to blurt out.

He hesitated and my embarrassment began to grow, when all of a sudden, things took an unexpected turn. ‘Me too!’ was his refrain!

I was surprised, but then felt a surge of encouragement. This was meant to be!

Eventually, we found the Christian group at their table. A second surprise (There was also to be a third surprise) was that the student manning it was also a Chemistry student like myself, but in the third year. He gladly signed us up and told us about their activities.

After this I was still hesitant to attend the Christian Union meetings, particularly as I was living far away from the university and their main meeting was in the evening. However, one day someone gave me a flyer for a lunchtime Bible study. I decided to go.

When I arrived at the meeting, there was a group of students already waiting outside. I was struck by their desire to study the Bible. Over the course of a number of meetings, the way these students took the Bible seriously, really spoke to me.

Gradually, I started going to other meetings. It took some courage, but slowly, I started going to more and more. Eventually, in my final year at university, I attended a Christianity explored course. Here there were six meetings. Each one involved a short talk based on a passage from Mark’s gospel and then a discussion time in a small group.

At the final meeting, there was a difficult moment as the usual room was booked. We had to go searching through the university to find an alternative. Once settled into the tight wooden benched lecture theatre the speaker began. This lesson was a little different as it mainly centred around a presentation of the Christian Good News.  Although I had heard aspects of this message before, this was the first time I had heard it so well and thoroughly presented. Suddenly, everything was clear.

As I listened to the words that were being spoken, I began to understand many things about myself and the way the world was. I also realised that God’s solution was to trust in Jesus Christ. I accepted this message and it began to guide me through my life.

I had wanted to remain at the university and study further. However, I felt like this wasn’t God’s plan for me. Thus, via the church I had started going to, I found out about an opportunity to get involved in student ministry with IFES, something which I did and eventually led me to Moldova!

During this final year at university, I got to know a little bit some of the others from the Christian Union. One day I entered into conversation with one of the guys and told me that he had been helping on the Christian Union table in my first fateful year, when I inadvertently missed them. I learned from him the reason why.

That year, there had been so many student societies and clubs, that some of them had to set up their tables outside. However, it had begun to rain and so they moved under the famous UCL archway. When I had exited the Fresher’s Fair, I was aware that something was going on outside, but also felt the rain and was already decided that I had done my bit, so headed off without exploring further. Thus, I missed the Christians!

However, God didn’t abandon me and found a way to eventually bring me back to where He wanted me to be!

Good News

Aurelius reclined on his triclinium. It had been a hard day at the agora. He hadn’t managed to sell much casus. He wasn’t sure why, although that was just the way it seemed to be. Maybe it was to do with the weather or, as some would have you believe, the whim of the gods, but in any case, those Sestertii were hard to come by. He was hoping to save up for a new villa, but he had a long way to go. He had been working on a new line of hard caseus, using skimmed milk and various herbs brought from distant lands. He hoped that this healthy, exotic line might go down well.

Just as he was beginning to dream. The door to his domum burst open and in rushed a sturdily built fellow. Without a word he grabbed Aurelius and began dragging him outside. Aurelius attempted to protest and resist his abduction but it was in vane. His assailant was far stronger than he.

Aurelius was man handled, rapidly without explanation, until he had been brought through the domum’s courtyard and out the front porta. Here, he was released, collapsing to the floor from exacerbation.

Somewhat dazed, Aurelius raised himself to his feet with the intention of legging it to safety. He was most exceedingly annoyed by the experience and would have lashed out at the man, had it not been for his size.

Strangely, the man had backed off. Aurelius thought about daring to give him some verbal abuse, but thought better of it and turned to run. However, as he span around, his eye was caught by an unexpected sight. There was smoke rising from the neighbours condominium and the wall which adjoined Aurelius’ was being consumed in flames.

Ipso facto thought Aurelius. His neighbour’s domum was on fire and it was threatening to spread to his own residency. He realised that the man who had dragged him from his sweet thoughts, rather than being an attacker, was actually a saviour who had sacrificed himself in order to rescue Aurelius from an impending danger. Aurelius was suddenly filled with a joyous maximus!

In life there are many contrasts. For example white and black. Black writing looks good on a white background as does white on black. However, black writing on a dark grey background is hard to read. In other words, the darkness of the one, is made clearer by the lightness of the other.

Christianity is often referred to as the Good News. Indeed, this is the origin of the word gospel. In ancient times, long before the internet, news had to be delivered by heralds who travelled all over the empire and announced it in the public squares. Their messages were known as Euangelion in Greek, literally good news. This term Euangelion came to be used for the Christian message, such as can be seen in the first verse of Mark’s gospel. The old English translation of Euangelion was ‘Godspel’, which eventually became gospel. Remnants of the word Euangelion can also still be seen in the English language in the word evangelical.

In order to fully understand and appreciate good news, it needs to be seen in contrast with the alternative. The news that someone is getting married is good news because two people, instead of continuing to live their lives in singleness, will now be forming a family, which is often seen as a superior way to live. However, this good news is tapered by the fact that singleness is not so bad (well, that depends on your point view!).

In another scenario, if someone has a bad illness, but then finds out that they have been cured, this can really be considered good news as the alternative would have been sickness, suffering and maybe even death.

Thus, to be able to fully understand why the Christian message is good news, we need to understand the alternative.

In Genesis 3 we see that although humans were created in a good world and had a perfect relationship with God, a tempting factor manifests itself in the form of the serpent. This serpent manages to convince Eve to go against God’s command of not eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The consequences can be seen in the ensuing verses as the humans feel shame, hide from God and start passing the blame. Moreover, God gives punishments. The woman receives pain in child birth and the man has to toil hard to make a living from the soil. The ultimate punishment though is banishment from the garden of Eden. Paradise lost as it were. This is the bad news.

The good news can however also be seen in this passage. Firstly, God does not abandon the people He has created, indeed it is He who goes looking for them and calls out, ‘Where are you?’.

Next, in verse 15 there is a famous prophecy. In the middle of God giving out the just punishments, we see that there is even here a beacon of hope. A promise is made that although the serpent will strike the seed of the woman, he will ultimately crush the serpent’s head. This is seen as a reference to Jesus, who after being born from a woman is crucified and killed, thus is struck by the serpent, but eventually rises to life after three days and so defeats death. This death has been caused by the serpent, whose head is crushed so to speak by Jesus’ victory!

 Finally, towards the end of the chapter in verse 21, there is an important detail that could easily be missed. God is said to have clothed the humans with skin. In this way, he covers over their nakedness with something better than the leaves that the humans had managed to rustle up. This skin must have come from the sacrifice of animals, so here we have a picture of the gospel. That in spite of humans disobedience to God He was prepared to make a sacrifice in order to cover their shame.

Of course, if we think that we are alright, this won’t seem like such a big deal. But if we understand that the fig leaves we are all naturally trying to use are not doing a very good job of obscuring our nakedness, we will be infinitely grateful to receive the gift of skin from God, bought by sacrifice, which truly does the job of covering up all that we have to be ashamed of and thus freeing us to live life to the full!