Samuel Chun - Nicaragua 2023 Testimony

Samuel Chun 

Freshman I UCLA 

Two years ago I listened to a sermon by John Piper that drastically changed my worldview from one of the world to one of Christ. In this sermon, Piper preaches about living the unwasted life. A life that embodies John 12:24-25: “Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life”. 

So what does it mean to live the unwasted life? Piper begins with rather what it looks like to live the wasted life. In talking of the American Dream, he describes how funneling all of our efforts to retire by 50 to spend the remainder of our leisurely lives only enjoying the pleasures of this world as a great and utter “tragedy”. Countless followers of Christ, though saved by grace through faith and having tasted the goodness of the Lord, orient their purpose in this world in pursuit of this futile aspiration. But the grain of wheat that dies to their flesh-driven hopes and the comforts of this world for the sake of exalting Christ and the Gospel is what the unwasted life entails. As Piper puts it best, “It’s better to lose your life than to waste it”. 

I too was once wasting this life. Though sealed by Christ, success, wealth, and comfort captivated my heart. I served two masters; one foot planted in Christ and the other in the world. Yet, by God’s grace, for the past two years I have sought to be that grain of wheat that invested into a life purpose that was solely by, through, and for Christ and His glory. Yet it was difficult to live out this unwasted life amidst the countless distractions and temptations of this world. 

But for my month in Nicaragua, I can confidently say that I lived the unwasted life. By God’s grace and providence, my team dedicated a whole month to joining Him in His mission to make His name known to all peoples. For a whole month we were fixed on His kingdom building, detached from the world and its distractions. Back at home, so many non kingdom-driven concerns clashed to take precedence over my heart. But for a whole month, we rose each morning with only one concern: How we could minister the Gospel and exalt the name of Christ in Nicaragua. And that’s the beauty and unique blessing of STSM. That we get to experience a short, yet nonetheless, great glimpse of what the abundant and unwasted life looks like. 

Furthermore, I witnessed how the missionaries have been living out the unwasted life for not just a month but for decades. If I could make additions to the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, they would without a doubt be there. The Gospel reigns supreme in their hearts, evident from the fruits of their church plants, schools, and other great God-glorifying endeavors they take on. Every thought exuded, word spoken, and action done by them is rooted in and driven by the Gospel. Their only concern was relaying this good news to the broken hearts of Nicaragua and discipling generations of faithful servants for His kingdom. These missionaries so clearly grasp John 12, as they are not investing their lives into the fleeting things of this world, but died to themselves - leaving behind family, friends, comforts, hopes and dreams - to invest their lives into the only thing what will last: The kingdom of Christ in Nicaragua and beyond. 

Now as I’m back home, I find it all the more pivotal that I seek to live the unwasted life here, where distractions are ubiquitous, and where my own flesh-driven ambitions compete to take priority in my heart. There will be days where I will waste my life for Christ. When I will steer away from the race course set before me. 

Despite all this, I have full assurance that Christ alone will sustain me to the finish line. What an unspeakable joy I have to know that His grace alone will carry me day by day. By His grace alone, am I able to count “everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ” (Phillipians 3:8). By His grace alone, am I able to “consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24). By His grace alone, am I able to be that grain of wheat that dies to myself so that I may invest my life into magnifying Him and His redemptive work on the cross. As C.T. Studd, a British missionary whose life and ministry encapsulated this purpose, once said: 

“Only one life ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last!” 

Lord, won’t this be the anthem of my life until you call me home!