My Faith Story: Testimony
At the age of 5 I believed Jesus, the sinless One, God in the flesh, died for my sins to give me eternal life. I believed when I died I would be with God, the Creator of the world and the Creator of me, forever. But I struggled for many years believing I needed to work harder to receive God’s approval to be right with God. I could feel the heavy burden of all my sins. I missed the mark of perfection, I was not even close. As I look back I see I spent many years trying to be “good enough” to earn God’s love and failed time and time again. I was living in death, not walking in life. I was living as if faith plus my works is what saved me or what kept God pleased with me.
After high school I attended New Tribes Bible Institute where I dug deep into the Scriptures. There I learned it is my faith in Christ’s work alone that saved me, not His works plus mine. My works are as filthy rags. God was satisfied with Jesus’ shed blood on my behalf and by believing this, I gained eternal life and His life in me. I am eternally secure because my good works could never save me, keep me saved, or make God more pleased with me. My failures could not keep me from God because I gained Christ’s righteousness. Jesus’ death was enough. Christ’s work is sufficient to make me right with God. I was then able to rest
I no longer live in fear of death and separation from God. I can trust Him forever because He will forever keep me. God lives within me, teaches me, and guides me in truth. It is no longer I who live, but Christ in me. I now live in peace, freedom, and hope. Faith in God’s way of rightness before Him – through faith in Jesus for forgiveness of sin & eternal life – brought true joy, peace, and an eagerness to serve Him and tell others about the power Jesus gave in freeing me from sin and death. Now I am able to sing…My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness & dressed in His righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.