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Wow. Just… wow. This testimony is the kind of raw, unfiltered, undeniable encounter with the living God that I long to see in my students at GoodLion and my former youth group kids who grew up in the church! This is the kind of faith that is birthed not out of tradition or routine, but out of a direct, undeniable collision with the Spirit of God.
I’d like to share some observations about this guy’s testimony.
The Encounter
This young man didn’t meet God in a church service. He wasn’t at a conference, at an altar, or in a moment of emotional manipulation. He was doing dishes. He was just existing, and yet, he reached out in a moment of brutal honesty: “God, if you’re real, I want to know the weight of that.”
And boom. God answers.
I’ve seen so many young adults who grew up in church but never experienced this. They heard the sermons, went to youth camp, maybe even led worship or Bible studies, but the weight of the gospel never landed. And here’s this guy, standing in his kitchen, genuinely seeking, and Jesus meets him in the most unmistakable, life-shattering way.
I pray… deeply pray, that my students experience this. That my former students who grew up in church, yet have drifted or grown apathetic, have a moment where the gospel is no longer just information, but revelation.
The Immediate Transformation
Photo by Joshua Sortino on Unsplash
I can’t get over this line: “I woke up in the Matrix.”
That’s exactly how it feels when the Spirit of God truly opens your eyes. Everything shifts. What you thought was normal life is suddenly exposed for what it is — hollow, broken, and ruled by sin. And then, the flood of understanding. Suddenly, Scripture isn’t just words on a page — it’s alive, it’s real, and it’s speaking directly to you.
And then, deliverance. One year completely free from a ten-year addiction. That’s not willpower nor a self-improvement plan. That’s the supernatural power of Jesus breaking chains that years of effort couldn’t.
I see so many students (past and present) wrestling with addictions wrapped around their identity … and they think, this is just how I am, this is my struggle. But Jesus actually delivers. And not just in a metaphorical, “oh you’ll get better eventually” kind of way. In an instant, He can snap the chains. I pray that for my students.
“I Am Weak” & The Power of Denial
“Before Jesus, I never denied myself anything.” That line is so simple yet so deeply reflective of our culture. The default mode of modern life is indulgence. If you want it, take it. If it feels good, do it. If you’re struggling, distract yourself. The radical call of Christ is to deny the flesh so the spirit can grow.
This guy gets it. Denying the flesh isn’t about legalism — it’s about freedom. It’s realizing that indulging every craving is actually what enslaves you, while self-denial in Christ is what liberates you. And man, is that a message young adults need today.
“I Reflect What I Consume”
This is huge. We are all being discipled — every single day, by whatever we consume the most. If it’s Scripture, prayer, and the presence of God, we will reflect Him. If it’s social media, Netflix, and the endless stream of algorithm-driven nonsense, we will reflect that.
I see this in my students constantly. They struggle with doubt, apathy, and spiritual numbness — but when you trace it back, their main inputs are not Jesus. They’re TikTok theology, doomscrolling, and whatever the culture is selling us. This isn’t to say that consuming media is inherently bad, but if our primary input is not Christ, we will not reflect Christ.
Evidence of the Holy Spirit
This is the part that really got me. He recognizes that he is changing — not by sheer effort, but by the Spirit of God working in him. More love. More peace. More self-control.
This is what true Christianity looks like!!!!
Not just “I don’t do bad things anymore,” but I am actually becoming more like Christ.
“The World Does Not Define Me”
This part is powerful. He used to be consumed by insecurity, by what others thought, by trying to impress, by chasing validation. But now? His identity is rooted in Christ.
This is one of the biggest struggles I see in my students. Identity. They are desperately searching for who they are, and the world is offering a thousand false answers.
“You are your success.”
“You are your sexuality.”
“You are your aesthetic, your Instagram, your online persona.”
But the truth? You are who God says you are. When that reality clicks — when you realize that the Creator of the universe has set His love on you — you don’t need to chase approval anymore.
You are already chosen.
I pray my students get this. I pray the kids I used to teach, who are now adults struggling to find their footing, realize they don’t have to earn identity… it’s given to them in Christ.
“It’s Easy to Get Distracted”
This is something even seasoned believers struggle with. We get so wrapped up in Christian things that we forget to actually spend time with Jesus.
This is something I’ve been convicted of lately. Teaching about Jesus, writing about Jesus, producing podcasts about Jesus — none of it replaces sitting with Him. None of it replaces realizing we are supposed to do the work WITH Him, not FOR Him.
It’s like Martha and Mary. Martha is doing all the things — serving, preparing, making sure everything is good for Jesus. Mary is just sitting at His feet. And what does Jesus say?
“Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.”
Ministry is good. Theology is good. Christian podcasts are good. But nothing replaces time at His feet. I need this reminder. My students need this reminder. We need to sit with Jesus.
And can we just take a second to acknowledge the absolute Brother Lawrence vibes here?
The dude was washing dishes when the Spirit of God overtook him. If you know The Practice of the Presence of God, you know that Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk, found deep communion with God… not in cathedrals or monasteries, but in the mundane, scrubbing pots and pans.
He famously said, “The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees.”
And here’s this young man, four centuries later, standing at a sink, hands covered in dish soap, when the Lord of the Universe decides to step in and wreck his life for the better.
God shows up in unexpected places, doesn’t He? Not always in the places we script Him into… Sunday morning worship, youth retreats, candlelit devotionals. No, sometimes He picks the ordinary moment when a soul is open enough to say, “God, if you’re real, I want to know.” And God, being God, responds in full force.
The God Who Overcomes
Now, let’s talk about the sheer power of what happened here.
I’m no five-point Calvinist. (Somewhere, a bearded man with a 1689 London Baptist Confession is furrowing his brow at me.) I don’t believe God bulldozes over the agency of man (and it seems to me that is His sovereign decision for How he wants the paradigm to operate!) But I do believe that He meets some people with what I’d call a Road to Damascus moment…not forced conversion, but an encounter so overwhelming, so undeniable, that saying no would require an act of pure madness.
This young man collapsed under the weight of conviction. He wept on the floor for 15–20 minutes, feeling the weight of his sin, seeing his life laid out before him. That’s the kind of thing only God can do.
And here’s where I get real: it’s tragic how many lifelong Christians have never experienced anything close to this.
I’ve had former students — good faithful kids admit to me, “I’ve never had a radical move of the Spirit like that. I believe, but I’ve never really felt anything.”
And I pray for them all the time. I pray that the weight of grace, the joy of salvation, the terrifying but beautiful reality of God would hit them like a freight train. Because Christianity isn’t meant to be just mental assent. It isn’t just knowing the right answers or avoiding bad behavior. It’s encountering the living God!
And while not everyone gets a Matrix wake-up moment, I do believe God is constantly wooing, drawing, and reaching out in different ways.
The Many Ways God Draws Us
Some of us get the Damascus Road — blinding light, instant transformation, a radical upheaval of life in a single moment. (Paul was out there trying to murder Christians and Jesus was like, “Hey buddy, what if we just… didn’t do that? Also, here’s some temporary blindness to think about your life choices.”)
Others get the Emmaus Road — walking through life, not even realizing Jesus is beside them, until one day He opens their eyes and they finally see.
Some experience a slow-burning faith that builds over years. Others get a spiritual 2×4 to the head.
And I don’t pretend to know why God moves the way He does. But I know this: every time I preach, every time I teach, every time I mentor or disciple, I am praying that God will use it to bring someone to their own ‘waking up in the Matrix’ moment.
That’s why I will never give up on this.
Because I don’t know when or how God is going to do it.
It could be that theology class I just taught.
It could be that random sermon illustration that stuck in someone’s brain.
It could be a moment when a student is alone, a decade later, washing dishes, and suddenly, God shows up.
So I keep throwing seeds. I keep preaching, keep teaching, keep discipling… because I know God is using every moment, every conversation, every class, every podcast to chip away at hearts, to soften the soil, to draw people to Himself.
And when He moves? When He really moves? It is undeniable. It is life-changing. It is irrevocable.
And that’s what I want for my students. That’s what I want for my former students who are wandering, for my friends who are skeptical, for the church kids who grew up with a faith that never really touched them deeply.
I want them to experience the weight of glory, to know that Jesus is more than just a belief system — He is reality itself.
Lord, let it be.
Waking Up in the Matrix: When Jesus Shatters Your Reality was originally published in GoodLion Theology on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
