A Completely New Perception of Reality
Zheng Kang, 3rd Congregation
Zheng Kang
I’m Zheng Kang from the 3rd congregation. Before coming to know Christ, I was a very staunch atheist who pledged allegiance to nothing but science and logic. Back then, I thought that love and joy were merely chemical reactions in the brain, and life had no ultimate meaning. Blinded by my pride, I was convinced that religion was foolish and dangerous. I even made fun of Christians who “talk to their imaginary friend” all the time. I also silently judged many people who did not meet up to my personal moral standards, because I thought that I was a good person.
God began pursuing me on the fateful day when my brother sat me down and challenged me to count how many times I would sin in a day – be it doing bad things, or doing things with selfish intentions. Honestly, I lost count way before the sun went down. I realised that deep down in my heart, I’m a selfish and judgemental hypocrite. In my entire life up till that point, I have never truly loved anybody, because the love I had for people was conditional and self-seeking.
On Christmas in 2014, Hwee Chin, who was my Primary School student care supervisor long ago, invited me to RHC, as she had for many years. By God’s grace during that Christmas, I was introduced to Evangelistic Bible Study conducted by Aik Keong. During the sessions, my previous perception of reality was destroyed. As Romans 1:18-21 puts it, although what can been known about God was plain to me, I did not honour Him or give thanks to Him, but I became futile in my thinking and my foolish heart was darkened. God showed me how unrighteous and undeserving of grace I was, and how I truly needed Jesus to save me from God’s well-deserved wrath.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ”, as it is written in Ephesians 2:5.
What amazed me about God’s love is that He has taken this initiative to redeem us who were unable to save ourselves, and all we have to do is trust in Jesus’ work on the cross and love God. I am unsure of the exact moment, but I gave my life to Jesus. For the first time in my life, I experienced the most complete, profound, and selfless love of God. This gave me strength to fight and repent of the sins which keep me away from Him. His love also gave me purpose and direction for my life.
I began to attend services in RHC, and the community and the Word here has really inspired me to continue to desire God. However, by this time, I had already been dating my girlfriend who I met in primary school for almost seven years. For many months, I struggled to show her the joy and meaningfulness of new life in Christ. I was frequently plagued with the command to not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 6:14. As time passed, God has convicted me that He is not glorified if a relationship is not based on His ways, but on common worldly interests apart from Him. As it is written in 1 John 2:17, “And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever”. We broke up in May 2016, and I expected to be gravely hurt.
By God’s grace, the breakup went well and God sustained me through it. Jesus declared in Matt 11:30 “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”. As God continues to change me, obeying His ways and His commands become less burdensome.
In all these, I saw God’s faithfulness in my life, sustaining and strengthening me through my struggles, doubts and temptations. I am convinced that amidst all our spiritual highs and lows, we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose, as it is written in Romans 8:28. God is with us to the end.