Matthew Wai is a pre-med Physiological Science major who also serves as the Focus Bible Study leader. He currently works at the UCLA rock climbing wall, loves to play tennis, and dances in his free time.
I had a pretty good life before I came to know Christ. I was a typical short Asian kid with glasses living in San Francisco (the best city in the world). I was going through life with little to worry about and absolutely no drama. I had a solid group of friends, an amazing family, and got along with everybody. The future looked bright because I had straight A’s and would most likely get into an excellent college. To top it off, I was always the glorified kid with the answers in Sunday school. You would not be able to accuse me of anything if you looked at my life from every angle, except one.
By the standards of society I had nothing to fear, but God decided to open His truth up to me in the Bible about my sin and utter need for Jesus Christ. After years and years of going to church, learning about God and the forgiveness of sin through Christ’s death on the cross, God set aside a moment in time for me to fully open my eyes to these gospel truths. Every year, my family would take a weeklong vacation at a Christian camp in Mount Hermon, near Santa Cruz. It was the summer before my junior year in high school where through a series of sermons and talks with my small group that I fully comprehended who Jesus was. I accepted the fact that Jesus was my savior and that I was sinful, but just as importantly was that I simply needed Christ and needed to commit my life to the Lord. I knew this in my heart and put all my trust in Christ and His sufficiency for every aspect of life. God had planted a small seed of faith during that retreat and I was saved.
With a new direction but little discipleship or guidance, for two years I stuck by two principles I accumulated over my lifetime in the church– to not sin and to strive to obey Christ. However, it was not until I came to GOC where my standards were completely blown out of the water. I was humbled through meeting other Christians in GOC that displayed an amazing faithfulness and love that lead me to understand that I was not giving God everything that I possibly could. From then on, God has been sanctifying me and opening up my eyes to what it means to live a life that is glorifying to God.
I had a pretty good life before I came to know Christ, but it can never compare to the life I have in Christ. Every day, I have a joy in my salvation that is eternally secured by His grace. When I labor and work, I know that it is not in vain but is rewarded by God in eternity. When there are trials and hardships, I know that they have been placed there by my heavenly Father who wants the best for me. Most of all, I have Jesus who will always be there and will always accept me for who I am. I know that because He gave up his life up for me on a cross even when I betrayed him and rejected him by my sin. All glory be to Christ.
“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:10-11)
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