我儿子（13岁）受洗的见证

我儿子(13岁)受洗的见证

范学德

　　我小的时候，认为基督无非就是一个永恒的灵，是我的良心的一部分，就是这些。从我记事的时候起，我就开始知道基督了。读圣经故事，去参加主日学，饭前祷告，我就是在这样的环境中被带大的。简言之，我是在一个基督徒的家庭中被养育大的。就像你们许多人知道的那样，我父亲是一个传福音的人，或者称为范学德传道；我的妈妈也是一个信徒。他们一直用福音和基督教来教导我。由于这个原因，我一直知道上帝，并且，在很小的时候，就和祂建立了个人的关系。

　　尽管如此，但我从来没想到过要受洗。我觉得，无论是我对上帝的知识还是我与祂的关系都是不完善的。事实上，我觉得我们之间的关系仅仅存在于礼拜天。在一周其余的时间里，我只是简单地遵循我的良心而已，并且我认为那就足够了。随着我长大了，更明白一些事了，我对基督的理解以及和祂的个人关系，也都在增长，发展。主逐步帮助我抓住了许多我在过去无法想象的观念，祂渐渐地帮助我在不同的亮光下看事情，并改变我的生命。

　　由于我在基督教背景下成长，我持续不断地认识基督，因此，没有一个特殊之点，在那一个时刻，我开始认识了上帝。但无论如何，这里有一个要点，上帝伸出了祂的手，祂改变了我的生命。那一个时刻就是教会2005年的退修会。基督挑战我，让我为祂而活。祂挑战我去作我感到不舒服的事情。起初，我降低这个挑战，我有点担心，害怕，我想，“当我这么做时，别人会怎么看我？”紧接着我认识到，我的生命并不是关于我的，而是属于上帝的。

　　我必须为上帝而活，因为祂为我而死，我凡事都要荣耀祂的名。在那一个时刻，我突然感到在我的生命中出现了一个裂缝，无论我怎么去填满它，它一直是空虚的。接着我明白了与上帝个人之间的关系到底意味着什么。于是，我开始为更多的个人的事情祈祷，我开始把它们与上帝联系起来。主帮助我改变自己的生命。

　　现在我做的每一件事情，我都要为主而作。我把我的生命和我的信赖都放在耶稣的手中，我要学习更多地去爱，主改变了我与之打交道的每个事情。现在，我进去了这样的情境思考：

　　“献出你最好的，但不是为了荣耀你自己，而是为了荣耀上帝，以便通过我的行为，让更多的人认识上帝。”

　　我的生命在许多方面仍然需要改进，但我要把我的生命一直放在我的创造者的手中，祂就是耶稣基督。

　　When I was young, I felt that Christ was simply an ever-present spirit and part of my conscience, nothing more. I’ve known Christ for as long as I can remember. I was brought up reading Bible stories, going to Sunday school, and praying before every meal. In short, I was brought up in a Christian family. My father, as you may know, is the evangelist or missionary Fan Xue De. My mother is also a believer. They have always taught me about the Gospel and Christianity. Because of this, I have always known God and came to accept him personally very early on.

　　However, I never felt that I was ready to be baptized. I still felt incomplete in my knowledge of the Lord and in our relationship. In fact, I felt that our relationship only existed on Sundays. During the week, I simply followed my conscience. I felt that that was sufficient. As I grew older and wiser, my understanding of Christ grew and a personal
relationship between us developed. The Lord slowly helped me to grasp ideas that were inconceivable to me in the past. He helped me to slowly see things in a different light and change.

　　Now since I grew up in a Christian setting, I gradually grew in Christ so there is no exact point when I came to know God. However, there is one point where God reached out and changed me. That point was the summer retreat of ’05. Christ hallenged me to live my life for him. He dared me to do things that were uncomfortable. At first, I was reluctant to this challenge. I was apprehensive and frightened. “What might think of me when…?” I thought. Then I realized that my life should not be about me, it should be about God.

　　I should live my life for God since he died for me and everything I do should glorify his name. At that moment, I suddenly felt a gap in my life that seemed to remain empty no matter how I filled it up. Part of my heart and mind craved something. Then I discovered what it was- a relationship personally with God. I then started to pray more often about more personal things. I started to connect with the Lord. He helped me to change my life.

　　Now everything I do I do for him. I now place my life and trust with Jesus. I have learned to be more loving. He has changed my approach to everything. I now go into situations thinking, “Do your best at this not for glory, but to glorify God so that others may come to him through my actions.” My life still can be improved in many ways, but I will persevere and place my life in the hands of my creator, Jesus Christ.