From Indifference to Commitment

Author:Jeremiah Teo
I was born into a Christian family with two loving parents who walked closely with God and siblings who regularly attend church. Throughout my life, I have felt God’s presence in my life. Whether it be protecting my family through crises, or seeing myself through difficulties in life, God has always watched over me. When I was younger, in my kindergarten days, my father took me through the sinners’ prayer. At that point, like any other child, I had no clue what that meant for my life and faith. I knew that I was a sinner and needed Jesus as my Saviour. I was a Christian, while at the same time not knowing what it encapsulated. Despite having little to no idea what being a Christian meant, I continued to attend church regularly and deepen my knowledge on Christianity.

For the most part of my earlier life in Church, I learnt the most basic of ideas — God loves every one of us, the different accounts and parables that were narrated in the Bible as well as some basic qualities of a Christian. It was only until I entered the teenage Sunday School Class that I started to delve deeper into Christianity. I had a new teacher and started to attend fellowship. Teacher Julie and Uncle Bryan were my Sunday school teachers and Aunty Bao Li, Aunty Veronica, Uncle Randolph and Elder Kerh Li were my mentors in Young People Fellowship (YPF). At that point, I was introduced to various teachings of Christianity. With the Fruits of The Spirit, Apologetics and snippets of the Westminster Confession of Faith being a few examples. With this new knowledge, I started to take my faith more seriously. That’s when I started to pray and do my quiet time with greater intention. I started to understand and internalise the contents of the Bible. It was also then when my eyes were open to the very subtle wrongdoings of the world and there was a need to differentiate myself from non-believers.

As a Christian, I knew that I had to emulate the qualities of one. I also acknowledged, however, that I still lacked in many areas. I had always struggled with being lazy and irresponsible. It was until I entered Junior College that I decided to do something about it. I wanted to be a better testimony for God. While working on it in my own time, God also provided me a platform that forced me into being more disciplined and more accountable. I started to take more control of my life. I decided that I needed to be the one steering it with the help of God. At that point, with everything starting to pile up around me and stepping way out of my comfort zone, I was feeling overwhelmed and was even starting to get a bit anxious that I was not going to make it out of Junior College. God, however, did not leave me as he continually sent people to reassure me and to support me. He gave me peace even in times when I felt inadequate. He also gave me the mental capacity to juggle between all the different responsibilities that I had. God has really worked wonders in my life. He changed me from the time when I felt indifferent towards everything around me to a time where I would take greater responsibility for my commitments. Although I still have a long way to go and am not exactly the most responsible person, God has provided me resilience to improve and to continue improving.