Postponing salvation

From the time he began school as a little boy, Ji’s education included atheism. So Chinese Bible study was not something he felt compelled to do—until he was 50 years old.

“My main motivation in life was money. It was the only god I knew. I worked very hard as a dentist, and I was always busy,” Ji explains. “If I could have worked 24 hours a day, I would have done it. I wasn't really happy until I was working overtime...that was double pay. As it was I worked 14 to 15 hour days."

Although he had Chinese Christian acquaintances who often invited him to attend Bible study, Ji's excuse was that he was always working. "Attending a Bible study felt like a burdensome obligation and I kept trying to avoid it. I made sure I worked all Sunday too.”

But that changed when a persistent friend urged him to come to the underground church and wouldn't take no for an answer. So grudgingly, Ji attended a fellowship meeting. "I was listening to the preacher read from the Bible," Ji remembered, "and he read Matthew 16:26."  What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

"I suddenly realized that I was going to forfeit my soul, because I cared nothing for the things of God." Now what seemed like a burden before became the only thing he wanted to do.

“I was so eager to know God that I attended Bible study non-stop,” Ji says. “Through half a year of study, I came to believe Jesus is my real Savior. I still work as a dentist, but now I share the love of God with my patients as a Chinese Christian. I've never been filled with such joy and peace."

To experience new life in Christ at 50 is not something that happens to most middle-aged Chinese, but God can reach anyone, even in China where Chinese Christians are persecuted.

"The Word of God is right when it says not to pursue the world or the things in it. I was never content when I did that," Ji nods, "but now I find peace when I read my Bible. I read it every day and I long for Sunday service and Bible study. I am grateful to the Lord for saving me."

Bible League International continues to partner with the house churches in China, where the need for both training in evangelism and discipleship and Chinese Bibles is enormous. Thank you for helping to reach believers like Ji.