Elvin Zhang
In 2017, I came to CBCWLA and attended Children Sunday school as well as Children’s Fellowship. There’s one verse from the Bible that I memorized during the children’s gatherings and still remembers. That verse is John 3:16
“For God so loved the world, He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
The Bible is not the words of people. It is the word of God. He wrote the Bible through different people over a span of 1500 years. It is magnificent how God had people from diverse backgrounds and from different time periods write a cohesive collection of 66 books with over one thousand pages! Because the Bible is inspired by God, it is powerful and relevant to each and every one of us. The original books of the Bible do not exist because they were destroyed. The Bible exists because scribes made manuscripts from the original books. The incredibly meticulous process of copying the manuscripts ensured that they are accurate word for word. The manuscripts are no different from the original text.
The Bible tells us that everyone on earth is a sinner except the one and only Jesus Christ. I admit that I am a sinner and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. I came to faith in Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I began to read the Bible more and got closer to God. After praying the sinner’s prayer, I was really thankful to be able to ask for forgiveness. The prayer made me feel better; my past sins have been pardoned. After receiving Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I felt more refreshed and more protected than before. Instead of feeling alone, I felt God is next to me everywhere 24/7.
When I was little, I wanted to be baptized because my mom was baptized. I didn’t know what being baptized really meant. I now understand that Baptism symbolizes that my sins have been washed away through the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is a public declaration of my faith in Christ. I am very thankful that I can proclaim my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ today. I hope to become a better person from this day on; I hope I will be more like my Lord. Of course, no one is perfect except Jesus Christ. I hope I can have more self-control and be more sociable. I want to spread the gospel with the people I know so that they could also put their faith through Christ and become Christians themselves.
Today is my birthday. It is also my double Birthday as I have been born again into the family of God on this day! I don’t think there’s any word in the universal language that can truly convey how happy and thankful I am today!