Happy Easter everyone! My name is Evangeline Chiu and I’m so excited to be baptized on this special day. Today, I want to profess my faith as a Christian. I believe in the trinity, that God is 3 in one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe that God created everything. And I believe that God is sovereign, ruling over the world and working in our lives every single day. I believe that man was made in the image of God but fell into sin and became so sinful and so filled with evil that not even one was “righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.” (Romans 3: 10-11) I believe in Jesus Christ, who is God’s one and only Son, who is fully God and fully man. He came to save sinners like me, and earned my justification by living a perfect life and dying on the cross as a sacrifice of atonement. Isaiah 53:51 says he “was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” However, Christ not only died on the cross for my sins, but he also rose from the dead on the third day! The powerful Son of God has conquered death and rules as Lord over all. Through repenting of my sins and believing in Jesus, I received his gifts of justification, adoption, becoming filled with the Holy Spirit, and entering into a new covenant with God.
Now please allow me to testify about how God is working in my life. I grew up in a Christian family and knew about him from a very young age. I used to have such a close and sweet relationship with God when I trusted Him wholeheartedly as a little girl. But as time went on, as I tried to control and run my life on my own, I grew farther and farther away from him. My selfish ways led me down a dark path. My daily life is all about what I want. I wanted good grades and approval from my peers. I wanted people to love me and satisfy my needs. I wanted friends who would never leave me. But no matter how hard my friends tried to cheer me up, I would always feel like I wasn’t enough. No matter how much love I received, my heart was still not satisfied… Whenever a friendship went wrong, whenever I didn’t live up to my standards, I always fell into the storm of shame, hurt, and fear. At my loneliest time and the most desperate point, I had no one else to turn to, but God. I had no one else to cry to, but God. And when I finally cried out to Him, He miraculously changed my thoughts and my heart. He put godly people around me to lead me closer to Him. He opened my heart so that I read my Bible more and so I got courage, love and faith to continue every single day. I used to always complain about why He didn’t answer my prayers by making me smarter or stronger; why He allowed so many hardships in my life while everyone else’s lives were so easy and happy! But through all the hardships and struggles, God is with me. I just has to be patient. I realize that in fact everyone is dealing with something and that without God, we will always be lost. Only in Jesus Christ did I finally find a Friend who loves me so deep that He chose to die on the cross for me. I found a Counselor who not only totally understands what I am going through but is also working in and through me for his Glory. He is protecting me, guiding me, training me and enabling me to become more like Christ. Most importantly, He promised that He would never leave me nor forsake me. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1) This is the verse my parents gave me when I was dedicated to God as a young child. Today, I can proudly claim that it’s true to me. I know that whenever I pray to God, I can tell him everything on my mind and trust that He is going to lead me through those hard times. Even though life is hard and every day is still a battle, I don’t feel alone anymore. Today I will be baptized, I will proclaim to the world that I am a child of God. Romans 8:15 says, “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” I am so grateful that He chose me and called me to be His. I know that my Abba in heaven holds my future in his hands and never runs out of love.
Finally, today is also my dad’s birthday, I want to tell him that he doesn’t need to constantly worry about me anymore and that I will be ok because God’s got me. I know that your birthday has not always been a happy event because it is also the day that your father passed away, but I hope my baptism will replace the sad memories with joy and hope, the thought of death with resurrection and eternal life.
