How does God use a Christian upbringing to reveal our sin and misery? What are the ways God convicts us of sin and offers us new, transformed life in Jesus Christ? In this video, David Platt shares his testimony of coming to faith in Jesus Christ, explaining how God graciously revealed his sin and need for a Savior. All throughout his upbringing, David Platt was taught the Gospel and his need for a Savior. Following a period of spiritual rebellion, God graciously transformed David and granted him a hunger for Scripture and prayer, and a greater gratitude for God’s grace.
- Growing up in the Church
- A Gradual Process
- By God’s Grace
How David Platt Became a Christian
By God’s grace I grew up in a home where my mom and dad taught me the gospel from the time I was born, and by God’s grace, He surrounded me with a church that did the same thing. And so Sunday school teachers and other people who taught me the word and showed me the character of God.
At some point when I was a child, and I don’t remember the exact moment it clicked, I understood that I was a sinner before God. That God loved me enough to send Christ, to pay the price for my sins, and that in turning from my sin and myself and trusting in Jesus, I would be saved forever. And so I did that. I remember at one point talking with the pastor about that. I remember talking with my parents about that, but I was young, I don’t remember all the details. But it was neat to see in the years to come, now, because I was young, it wasn’t like, okay, wow.
Embracing Christianity
I went from living this radically rebellious life to total transformation overnight. There was certainly, in a sense, a gradual process of learning what it means to follow Christ. But it was clear there was a point where things clicked and where it went from just hearing Bible stories to actually having a hunger for God’s word and from being taught to pray, to wanting to pray.
That regeneration happened at a point in my life and the effects of that, obviously still, I still continue to experience the effects of that in new and powerful ways even today, and understand more and more the Lordship of Christ with each passing day and have so much to learn. But I’m thankful by God’s grace for the privilege of hearing the gospel early in my life and for His grace in drawing me to Himself early in my life.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
