My name is David Burnett, and I am a born again Christian. At the end of 2021 I shared my testimony on the day of my baptism before being added to membership of my local church.
However, this was not the first time I had done this. In 2010 I gave my testimony and was baptised in a church in Fraserburgh. But I now realise I wasn’t really a Christian then.
It was my best friend’s idea to be baptised and I joined him, believing my life will change for good by attending church services on a Sunday.
My main hope was to make friends. I told my parents (who are not Christians) and they were not happy. They explained to me that I was being irresponsible as I had already been ‘Christened’ as an infant. There was no clarity in what I was doing, or why.
Shallow faith
During my time in this church I didn’t read my Bible or pray. My attitude was, ‘I’m saved, and believing in Jesus is enough.’ Looking back, I realise now that I only attended in order to socialise with other youngsters who attended the same church.
A while later, I left the church, being called a ‘backslider’ by other members. This made me angry with both the church and God. As a person who was spiritually dead in sin, addiction entered my life: alcohol, lust, fornication. This filled me with emptiness.
Soon depression was entering my life as a single person reaching 30 years of age. I had previously been in a relationship, but this only led to me digging a deeper hole in my life. My partner was a woman who liked to party – drinking to excess, taking cocaine and popping pills, which then led me to take drugs.
An open door
Covid-19 came and everywhere was closing down. My partner was jobless and so we agreed to end the relationship. During the lockdown I needed help – I felt so convicted, ashamed, a failure, and life was hopeless.
I carried the burdens of all the mistakes I had made and all the lies and pain I caused. I carried it. I prayed to God and asked him, ‘Let there be a church to reopen soon!’
At this point I was deeply broken and needed help from my sin of lust and pornography. My prayer was answered when Grace Baptist Church Aberdeen started meeting again in person.
In June 2021 a sermon was preached by a church deacon. He spoke from Romans 1:16: ‘I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.’
Yes, I was ashamed of the gospel. I had previously called myself a Christian, despite thinking I could not measure up to the same standards of those attending Grace Baptist Church because of my sinful addiction.
What gave me hope in this sermon was being enabled by God to come in repentance to Jesus Christ. Repentance is a turning away from the sins in our lives – viewing them with the same disgust that God does.
The minister also spoke of believing in the power of the cross on which Jesus died – believing that Jesus bled and sacrificed himself by dying in that horrific manner for a disgraceful sinner like me who is deserving of hell.
