Testimonies
Shawn Cuthill
Markham, Ontario, Canada
Saved: Age 16
Still haven’t found what you’re looking for?
I’m just an ordinary guy, but something extra-ordinary happened to me, and I hope you’ll take some time to read about it!
When I was in grade 11 I was a pretty average 16 year-old. Drinking, partying and chasing girls were what I loved and lived for. I thought that I was here on earth to enjoy myself, anyway I could. Just like the song said “All I want to do is have some fun!”. I was trying to find real happiness in parties and people, and that was what kept me going from week to weekend. I tried anything to get “high”.
Slowly but surely, as time went on, I started to get caught up in bigger and better “highs”. With new friends came new challenges. Drink a little more, steal a little more, smoke a little more. Sure I was having “fun”, but the problem was that I couldn’t figure out why nothing could really satisfy. I was searching for something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. I was traveling on a terribly empty road in the pursuit of pleasure. I wonder if you find yourself on this road, chasing after pleasure, only to be left feeling empty? Well the problem I had, and you may have to, is that I didn’t understand what happiness really is. Do you know what true happiness is? Are you truly satisfied with your life?
The dictionary defines happiness as being glad, or content. Are you truly content and satisfied? Or would you say, like Mick Jagger, “I can’t get no satisfaction”. Do you try, like I did, to find contentment in things like alcohol or drugs that don’t satisfy? I wonder if you would consider the real reason for your unhappiness. The source of all that emptiness and unhappiness that you feel is caused by a thing called SIN.
When I was 16 years old someone opened up the Bible and showed me what my problem was…SIN. Sin is our disobedience and rebellion against God and His commandments1. Since God created us2, he made sure we couldn’t be happy without him! God gave you a conscience so you would know right and wrong3. When your conscience makes you feel guilty, you can know that you’ve sinned, and that God will judge you for your sin! Sin is the root of all your problems and until you have your sins forgiven, you will never be truly satisfied!
Instead of trying to find satisfaction in drugs and alcohol, I realized I needed to find satisfaction in God, and that could only happen by having my sin totally forgiven by Him! But how?? The good news of the bible is that Jesus Christ took the punishment, guilt and shame of all our sin and dealt with it once and for all on the cross4. He hung there and died for your sins, paying the punishment you deserved. Jesus died in your place and rose again, so that YOU could be totally forgiven by believing in him5! The bible says that you need to repent, or turn from your empty life of sin, and believe that Jesus is the only one that can save you6. Turn your life over to God today and ask him to save you! I turned my life to Jesus Christ in 1993 and now I know what happiness is!
1 First John chapter 3 verse 4
2 Romans chapter 1 verse 20
3 Romans chapter 2 verse 15
4 First Peter chapter 3 verse 18
5 Luke chapter 9 verse 23 and 24
6 Mark chapter 1 verse 15
"Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins may be blotted out." (Acts 3:19)
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." (Acts 16:31)
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