God’s Everlasting Love and Mercy
Hi everyone! My name is Mason and I am 18 this year. Like many others, I have had the joy and privilege of growing up in Bethany. Many Bible stories and lessons were taught to me, but despite this opportunity, I took these things for granted.
When I was younger, time was set aside to pursue the things of the world. To me, as a student, doing well in my studies and sports were my priorities. It is not wrong to do well in these things, however, I did not place God as my first priority in my life. My time was mostly spent on badminton, where I had trainings from Monday to Saturday. Because of this, I was not able to attend YPG regularly on Saturday and this had affected both my faith and my walk with the Lord. I slowly began to drift away from the Lord by not spending time reading His word and not attending Sunday school and worship regularly.
In 2014, I went for that year’s Youth Conference, where the theme was “I know whom I have believed”. Pastor Charles spoke about the importance of being steadfast and unashamed of our faith in the Lord despite the challenges in life. He also spoke about how the Lord loves us even when we drift away from Him. I was deeply moved as I saw how merciful and loving the Lord was towards me, despite the sins in my life. After that Youth Conference, I opened my heart to the Lord and was willing to accept Christ into my life. Changes had to be made, and so I decided to leave the national youth team. This allowed me to spend more time reading the Lord’s word consistently and I was also able to attend YPG regularly. During one of the YPG discussions, my YPG leader asked me, what do you seek for in life? And he pointed me to Psalm 27:4, which reads:
“One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.”
After reading this verse, the desire to know the Lord better grew even deeper, and now my focus in life is to seek the Lord and not the things of the world. I started serving in small areas such as the cleaning ministry and the choir ministry. I found greater sense of joy coming to the Lord’s house each weekend to serve and worship Him rather than to spend worthless time, such as training or going out with friends.
One lesson that continues to have a huge impact in my life till now is when Pastor taught us from the book of Ephesians 2:4-5 during Catechism class. It reads:
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”
This verse speaks about how merciful the Lord is, even when I was spiritually dead in my sins, He made me alive together with Christ. How wondrous it is to know that God loves me despite the many sins in my life! With this, I want to be more purposeful in the sense of living my life for the Lord. There is truly nothing greater than the extent of the love of God which is reflected in the words of this song written by Dr Daniel, “For God so Loved the world”
“How wondrous is the thought that He
Could love so ever willingly
A world of sinful men like me
From sin He set us free”
Again, God’s love is continuously shown towards me through the people here in Bethany. Each week, many would always asked me how was my week and they would show their encouragement by always pointing me back to the Lord’s word. I have caught a small glimpse of what it means to be “God’s kind of church, where God is touching lives, and people care for people”. The desire to continue learning the Lord’s word and growing deeper in my faith in Bethany is something I do not want to take for granted. The Lord has provided for me in many different ways and my response is to take my place in Bethany by serving in whichever area the Lord wants me to serve in. I am exceedingly joyful to be able to reaffirmed my faith today, where the truth and love of God is shown through His people here in Bethany!
