Testimony of Daniel W.

„For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. “

Ephesians 2:8-9

"Saved by grace" is the most important verdict of my life.

„Grace?“ One might ask: „What do you mean by that?” I can assure you: I was never a young offender. Moreover, I never was in serious contact with the police and I never had to stand my trial. Actually I lived a pretty normal and ordinary childhood. But what does my life have to do with grace?

My name is Daniel and without grace I would be utterly lost. I grew up in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt am Main (in the middle of Germany) as the oldest child of our family. My parents both are academics, so I was born into a well-off family. My mom and my dad tried to live a morally acceptable life and taught us three children to do the same. I have one twenty year-old brother and a twelve year-old sister. My parents knew the protestant state church since their own childhood and were convinced of God’s existence. Nevertheless they were blind with regard to their own depravity and the true nature of God, as God Himself revealed it in the Bible, which is his inspired word. Some time ago my father told me that even as a unbeliever he searched how to enter heaven. Finally God revealed his truth to my parents, when they took part in a christian family camp in 1994.

The living word of God did its work: In 1994 my father got saved, while my mother repented one year later in 1995, when we spent our holidays again at the christian family camp. Turning to God had consequences for our family – one of them was, that we joined an evangelical church. At church I attended the children’s sunday school and was able to learn more and more about God . Since 1995 when we took part in the family camp for the second time it became clear to me, that God exists and that the Bible tells the truth about Him. Moreover I understood that I was guilty before God, the Creator of all things, and needed a saviour. Back at home I started to read the Bible regularly to acquire more knowledge of God. What I read is what I see even more clearly today: God is a holy God and the sovereign Ruler of all. He cannot tolerate the slightest disobedience to his law which is summarized in the 10 commandments. Therefore I was a “child of wrath”, totally lost and corrupted in my heart. I deserved eternal hell. My depravity was visible despite living in a lovely family and despite the parenting I experienced. I disobeyed my parents and often argued with my brother. I heard and read more and more about God and salvation through the substitutional sacrifice of Jesus Christ for sinners, but I knew so little of what it meant to live as a christian. My hatred of sin was little and inconsequent. I tried to keep my sinning against God a secret and thus rebelled against God’s will. As a 14-year old I confessed my faith in Jesus Christ and my resolve to follow Him in front of the church. That was after I had taken part in a Bible class of our church for one year.

Many, many times I had to give proof of my decision to follow Christ in ways of abstaining from things that insult my holy God – things, that deserve his punishment. Instead of getting drunk, consume drugs or having relationships with girls as my classmates I enjoyed learning about God’s word and be among christians. Even if it made me being different I often confessed my faith to my classmates. The older I got the more I understood the depravity of sin and the destruction that it involves. I realized how even sins of the mind separated me from God. At this time I did not understand much about the grace of God. Maybe unconciously I saw it as a reason to not take sin seriously. That made me a hypocrite, because my aim was to be acceptable before myself. Very often I insulted God’s holiness by trying to live the christian life out of selfish motives as to be respected by others. I thought some sin would be inevitable because I still loved sin. But God freed me from the slavery of sin and made me an obedient slave of righteousness.

A constant encouragment to chose the way of obedience were many holiday camps, especially one holiday bible school for young christians where I got to know many friends, who also follow and serve Jesus. Serving Him was important to me when I decided where to do the alternative national service. After serving missionaries in Asia I finally came to Berlin which is nothing but God’s gracious leading. I am so much thankful to be in a church that is faithful to God and his word. Through more and intense study of the latter I was granted to understand even the basic truths of our faith more profoundly and to implement that in my life. I learned how important it is to have the right understanding of God and man, of sin and repentance.

I want to close as I began – with words of Ephesians 2 as these words are truth also in my life:

„For by grace you have been saved“ – I may live as a man freed from the slavery of sin solely on the basis of God’s unconditional love.

„through faith“ – It is the Lord who opened my eyes for my utter lostness and for his holiness nature. That is why I put my trust in Him because apart from Him I am nothing.

„and that not of yourselves“ – Despite all moral education and despite all intelligence I have – without God I was not able see the truth about Him and the truth about me.

„it is the gift of God; not as a result of works“ – My best deeds are like filthy garments in His eyes and they cannot save me nor improve my position before Him.

„so that no one may boast“ – I confess that I was created to glorify God and not for self-fulfilment even if you call it „christian“ self-fulfilment. May everything be Soli Deo Gloria – Glory to God alone!

May 2007