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| In the Fullness of Time: A Cantata |
Consider this a breaking post. I want to write a longer and more detailed article on the Diliman Campus Bible Church's Christmas Cantata, but I just can't help but share my reflections on the testimony.
This year, Ate Sandra Roldan from the English service shared how she came to know Christ. While listening to her story, I felt as if she was reading parts of my very own testimony. There were several similarities so I was instantly drawn while she spoke before a crowd of about 200 people.
Like Ate Sandra, I also struggled to find a place in the world. I thought that in order to be important, in order for my life to have meaning, I had to fight my way up to the top. I believed in the world's standard that the only important things are fame, glory, honor, power, praise and riches.
I wanted to have all these so I vowed to excel in everything to ensure my success. I studied very hard from elementary to college. Thus, I graduated valedictorian in elementary, high school and even in my college in the University of the Philippines.
I can share this now not because I want to brag, but because I stand to testify that despite such achievements, a gnawing emptiness ate into my heart. Some may think that I couldn't ask for anything else. I'm already successful in the world's standard. I will surely get a high-paying job and will easily climb up the corporate ladder.
But Ate Sandra is correct when she said that without God in the center, one's life will be a terrible mess. Maybe the world thinks one is alright outwardly, but in moments of loneliness and silence, the aches rush back violently and shake the very fabric of the person's being.
I will never regret the day I opened my heart to Jesus. It is truly by grace through faith in Him alone that I was changed. It may sound very abstract, but the moment I allowed Him to take control of my life, I found joy and peace. I understood that though the world would hate me and question my chosen path, I would not be shaken because in Christ I found the purpose I was desperately searching for all these years.
And what is my life's purpose? I live to bring glory to my God. I live to offer all that I think, do and say for the honor of the Lord. How do I do this? I'm not sure really but in my finite understanding, I struggle daily to love Him "with all my heart, soul, mind and strength" and to love my neighbor as myself.
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31)
You may be searching for meaning, peace and joy like how I and Ate Sandra searched for these things in the past. You will find these only when God finds you.
It is not because of who we are or what we have done, but it is by God's grace that we are given faith to believe in Him alone as the source of life. It is this faith that saves us, gives us the power to repent, confess and turn from sin to Christ.
When I realized this, my response was a humble prayer, offering my life to Him and asking Him to take control of it. You can do the same and trust that the Lord of the Universe will answer you in His wisdom and sovereignty.
God bless you all!
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