Jesus Christ is God. Only Jesus Saves.

My faith journey

In the Beginning

I was raised in a Christian family and attended church regularly as a child. I was lucky enough to be welcomed formally into God’s kingdom at an early age. In fact, my cousin led me to “accept Jesus” and say the sinner’s prayer as a young child. I attended church regularly. I loved to binge Veggie Tales VHS tapes. Yet like so many in modern society, I succumbed to the influence of the enemy as I grew older, growing into an apostate and wanting nothing to do with God or spirituality generally.

Baby Steps

As I passed from adolescence into adulthood, I began to realize the folly and futility of adamant disbelief. In order to be an atheist, one needs to know the unknowable. One needs to possess supernatural powers. This did not logically make sense, and therein lies the crux of the difficulty of belief for myself and other logical thinkers: acquiescing to belief in a literal miracle and setting aside our pride as the top of the universe’s intelligence chain. But paradoxically, what made more logical sense was Pascal’s Wager: The idea that it is mathematically advantageous to believe in God. Despite the selfishness of this line of thinking, reducing belief in God to a cost/benefit analysis, not unlike running a win/loss calculation in a sports betting scenario, it was an important first step in realizing my place in the universe and beginning to reconcile my relationship. The endgame of belief is not a logical probability equation (though it can be a fine bridge over the gap of logical leaps which make faith difficult for people like me).

Throughout early adulthood, I began to consider the events shaping my life and the unlikelihood of them occurring by happenstance. I concluded that atheism being true was impossible. 99.9% is still not 100% — or in other words, atheism asks its followers to believe in a laundry list of miracles, whereas Christianity only asks us to believe in one. At that point I still wasn’t sure that “God” as Christians understood Him was real. But I was comfortable labeling myself as agnostic — open to the idea of God — and even then I could begin to feel Him turn towards me through unexplainable sparks of warmth.

I continued to have experiences in life, both positive and negative, and as they kept occurring, my logical brain could not escape my internal voice continuously reminding me of the infinitesimal possibility of all of these events occurring. How could all of these things happen to a single person in a single life time? Was it pure perseverance? Was it dumb luck? Or was it something higher…

Ultimately I was able to return fully to God and was welcomed with a loving embrace. There is no way for words to adequately describe what it feels like to have the presence of the Holy Spirit. Often, it manifests as crying involuntarily. It is a joy that no physical possession can match. It’s a beauty that surpasses any scenic vista. It’s a euphoria that elevates beyond what any drug could possibly offer. It is a sensation greater than anything purely physical; it is metaphysical. It is an everlasting source of refuge and warmth.

Jesus Meets Where You Are

Despite my apostasy, I never felt complete separation from God. When I turned back toward God, I felt his presence immediately. He turned back towards me just as quickly. God doesn’t expect perfection and in fact, perfection is impossible, which in turn is precisely why we all need God. In my case, the transformation has taken place slowly but surely. I am eternally grateful for my arms being pulled towards heaven after my feet so nearly touched hell.

Jesus Overcomes All

There is no challenge which Jesus cannot take on — he is the creator of the universe after all! Part of what makes being faithful so great is knowing that we can lay all of our seemingly insurmountable burdens at the feet of Jesus and He will overcome them with no shadow of doubt.

While it is unlikely (though not impossible) that God would grant my prayer request for a Lamborghini by making one appear outside my door tomorrow, He does listen and grant all prayer requests in line with his plan (“Ask and ye shall receive”). While God has his own timescale and mysterious ways of working, He answers my prayers in spades. When I pray for rain drops, God delivers a deluge.

Ecumenism is Essential

It is imperative that Christians of all denominations put aside our differences and work together under the common banner of Christ. I was raised as a non-denominational Protestant, yet know and love believers of all denominations. Whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, it would behoove us to try our best to unite. We don’t have to forget what makes us unique and at the same time, we need to embrace and support each other as a common body — the Body of Christ! Together we can stand against our enemies and most importantly, the Enemy. In other words, we can and should preserve our traditions while keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize of God’s eternal kingdom, and our commission to gather as many as we can into it.