"This question is quite straight forward. I just want to know how you came to put your faith in Christ. I get a lot of different answers to this question, and the answers I get usually fascinate me. It can be a one sentence answer, or as long as you want. I'm just really interested in hearing your answer."
I really appreciate your question. I notice that some didn't answer it. they didn't tell how THEY CAME to put their faith in Christ. Some told or quoted a website about the gospel message but never said how they became a Christian. Some talked about joining or following a particular church or being water baptized.
That is not becoming a spiritually born again, a second time, from above follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know because many of those things I DID, but they didn't make me a Christian. No one is physically born a Christian. To become a Christian one needs to be born a second time, spiritually.
I grew up in a home where my parents believed & followed Christ. That didn't make me a Christian, although it influenced me in a positive direction. (Proverbs 22:6). I am thankful for that!
John 1:8-13 He was not that Light, but
was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name: who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.
I wasn't a Christian because I was born into this world. I wasn't a child of God because my parents believed & followed Christ & their willful desire for me to be one made me one. I wasn't a Christian because I chose to be one in my flesh.
Jesus Christ as the light of the world shines His light on everyone. But I was blind & dead in my trespasses & sins & could not see His light. I was spiritually dead, like the rest of mankind, disobedient & in rebellion against God & BY NATURE a child under God's righteous wrath.
2 Cor 4:3,4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
John 12:39,40 For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:"He hath blinded their eyes & hardened their heart; that they should not see with
their eyes, nor understand with
their heart, & be converted & I should heal them." (Jer 5:21; Ezek 12:2; Isaiah 6:9,10; John 9:39; Deut 29:4)
The Law, the prophets, the Writings & the NT gospel message all spoke of my spiritual condition being born physically into this world & one who chose to sin against a holy God:
"I was dead in my trespasses & sins, in which I used to walk when I conformed to the ways of this world & of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
"At one time I lived among them, fulfilling the cravings of my flesh & indulging its desires & thoughts. Like the rest of mankind, I was BY NATURE a child of wrath."
"Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel & strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope & without God in the world."
I was baptized with water as an infant in the church. That did not regenerate me & make me born again from above nor remove my sins nor was I yet washed by the Holy Spirit or renewed in spiritual life.
I remained blinded & dead in my trespasses & sins & continued in rebellion to God, despite these influences & attempts by others to make me a Christian.
I attended church services with my parents growing up. I successfully graduated from catechism & was told because of these things I was a Christian & took my first Eucharist or communion.
Those did not make me a Christian. I was still spiritually dead & did not know Christ.
I even read through the whole Bible cover to cover, so I could boast I had read the whole Bible. That again did not make me a born again adopted child of God.
If someone asked me what I believed I could tell them the facts ABOUT Christianity & I intellectually said I believe those facts: that Christ suffered, died, was buried & rose again from the dead. I believed the Bible was the word of God. Intellectually I know a lot about Christ & the history of the church, but I was still spiritually dead, blinded & living in the pride of life.
The spiritual leader in the local church fellowship I attended rode a motorcycle & every so often smoked a cigar. I thought that was cool. But his desire for me to be a Christian or that I successfully graduated from his catechism classes didn't make me a Christian. Only God could do that.
A friend in high school was a spiritually born again Christian. He asked me one time is I was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I told him I went to church. He said that doesn't make you a Christian. I told him I believed in the facts of the gospel. That seemed to stop him from asking me anymore but I knew I didn't know the Lord like he did.
I was a Christian in name only. I had attended church services but afterwards would go & do whatever I wanted. His was a changed life; mine wasn't. He knew Jesus Christ personally; I only knew about Him. He was spiritually alive in Christ & followed Him & obeyed His commandments; I was not yet. Just a coincidental relationship?
He was the only one who could beat me in a certain sport. I asked him why I couldn't beat him & he told me I had a weakness in a certain area. After that I could beat him. I remember asking him why he did that. I would never do that. He said so he could have competition because I was the only one who offered him any & he wanted to compete against a worthy opponent to make him better.
Another incident in high school showed me personally, that God did indeed care for me & desired a relationship with me, even though I didn't know Him personally or followed Him.
I got lost while hunting with my dad & ended up 20 miles away from him by road when I finally came out of the woods. It was the LAST day of hunting season & the sun was going down when I came to a road & went to the end of it.
I sat down, feeling total despair & with no idea where I was at or where I was to go. I had no compass & my sense of direction is not very good. I then sent up one of those desperation prayers most of us have said, to the effect that God would help me because I was lost & had no idea what to do. But praying didn't make me a Christian.
I was lost in more ways than that & didn't realize it. But God was merciful to me when I cried out of my heart in honesty & despair, even though I wasn't a Christian.
Nothing happened at first. The sun went down. I then started to get up & knew that I had to try & walk out of the woods somehow. It was then a truck came down to the end of the road, looked over the canyon. I went up to the driver & told him I was lost & he asked me where I had been. I told him. He said that was 20 miles away by road!
He was heading home with his son but took me all the way over there. He was running low on gas & said he had to go out of the mountains to get some gas. It was definitely dark. We met my dad on the way down.
I was so relieved. Before he left I asked him why he came down that road where I was at. He said he didn't know why as he was heading for home. But said an overwhelming urge came over him to turn around & go to the end of the road to look one more time. And there I was. Just a coincidence? I knew better.
I don't remember thanking God for answering my prayer but I KNEW at that moment, there was a real God who heard my prayer & specifically answered my prayer & cared for me.
In all that time driving around, those many miles--we never saw another vehicle or person, until we saw my dad.
I remember telling one of my sisters if she was getting anything out of going to church. She said no & I said me either. One time we threw our shoes out the window into the bushes & said we couldn't go to church.
My dad was a wise man & said that we would be going without our shoes! Needless to say we somehow 'found' them in time.
I got accepted to go to the Air Force Academy. My eyesight was very good. However in the last half of my senior year, I suddenly developed an eye condition & this prevented me from flying aircraft. So I hastily applied for other colleges & got accepted at one. Just a coincidence or a Divine intervention?
My draft number was very low & the Viet Nam war was going on. I didn't expect to stay in college very long. Yet suddenly the troops were being reduced & I didn't get sent over there.
Then at college I met two individuals who were going around & inviting college students to attend a Bible study. They asked me if I was a Christian & I said my Christian mantra--I believed in Jesus & the Bible & I attended church (although since going to college I hadn't been attending at all so was not telling the truth concerning that).
Attending a Bible study & participating in it didn't make me a Christian or change my life. But as we studied through the Bible, the Holy Spirit began to convict me of sin & righteousness & judgment. (John 16:8-11)
Romans 10:16,17 "But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” Consequently, faith comes by hearing & hearing by the word of God."
I remember walking one time on campus & I suddenly decided to turn into the student union building where everyone gathered. It was mass pandemonium, wild & noisy. I was trying to find even one seat or table somewhere open.
Suddenly I spied one of the Bible study leaders sitting in the middle of this frenzy. His head was tilted up, his eyes closed, his Bible on his knees & he was praying, with a smile on his lips. Just a coincidence or Divine encounter?
I knew then that this man was a genuine Christian who KNEW the Lord & not just about him & walked with God personally. If he could communicate with God like that in this crazy place, then I suddenly desired to know God personally like that.
One passage in the Bible study stood out to me & convicted me.
I John 2:4-6 If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar & the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
That wasn't true of my life. I was trying to live a fairly moral life & didn't go out of my way to harm my fellow human being. I was at the time drinking alcohol more heavily & regularly & was becoming a third generation alcoholic in my family.
I watched a friend drop out of college due to his drinking. I then remember sitting at the top of a high building on campus, looking out the windows & wondering what was the purpose of my life & how I was beginning to spin out of control & feeling in great despair.
Little did I know the Holy Spirit was convicting me & drawing me to the end of myself, humbling me & helping me face myself truthfully. This conviction & sorrowful feelings did not make me a Christian but it led to the beginning of my finally making a decision of true repentance away from sin & turning toward God to save me.
The Bible talks about examining ourselves & that is what I was honestly now doing. Had I convinced myself & others that I was a genuine spiritually born again Christian? Was I? Was there enough evidence to convict me as a Christian, if I was tried in court, like so many Christians before that were martyred for their faithful testimony?
2 Cor 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is IN YOU-- unless indeed you fail the test?
Romans 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
I didn't have Christ LIVING in & through me. I didn't even know the Holy Spirit nor was He dwelling & filling me with His Presence. Upon honest examination, I had failed the test. I didn't belong to Jesus.
I was moved to talk to that Bible study leader mentioned above & I went & asked him HOW he became a Christian. He shared his personal testimony with me & came to the point where he said that he was personally convicted of his own sin & rebellion against God & realized that he was lost & in need of a Savior. He had been living his own life & changed his mind & prayed & asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins, believing in Him as His Savior & from that day following Christ & obeying Him.
I knew that was what I was missing. I had confessed that Jesus is the Lord & Messiah & died for the sins of the world & rose again. I knew that intellectually as the facts of the gospel. However, I had lived my own life. Baptism didn't change me. Catechism didn't change me. Going to church didn't change me. My parents didn't change me into a Christian. Praying didn't make me a Christian.
Now I REALIZED fully I WAS A SINNER AGAINST A HOLY GOD. I had been rebelling against HIM. I was not following HIM. He was not MY LORD & MY GOD. He was not in my life nor was the Holy Spirit--leading & guiding me in the truth. (to be continued, thanks for your patience)