Your Journey With Christ
The most significant and meaningful opportunity in life is to live in a personal relationship with God through his Son, Jesus Christ. Read on to find out how that's possible.
WHO GOD IS
The opening words of the first book of the Bible are, “In the beginning God....” The God revealed in the Bible, “...made the world and everything in it....[He is] the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands” (Acts 17:24). What is more, this God is revealed as having all power and all knowledge. He is good, loving and kind. He is righteous, just, and does all things well.
While there is only one God, this one God is so wonderful that he exists as a complex unity. In the Bible we read about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Each person is distinct and yet they are one. The clarity of this teaching, found in the Bible, was recognized by the early Church. He is the one God who exists in three persons.
Since God is our Creator, it makes sense to say that our greatest meaning and purpose in life is found in a personal relationship with Him. “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent,” - John 17:3.
“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”
Our Problem
The Bible also helps us understand something important about ourselves. There is within us a strong, willful desire to establish and secure our life apart from God. This desire is rooted in the first act of disobedience against God committed by the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Through Adam, sin entered into the world and everyone born since Adam is born with a sin nature (Rom.5:19). Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
By putting ourselves in the place of God we have sinned against him. This is the height of folly because God is the one who gives us each breath we take. God is the one who sustains our lives and has given us many good things.
In Acts 17:24-27 we read, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us."
To sin against God is to incur his judgment. Indeed, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom.3:23). Jesus often spoke about Hell. It is a place of eternal separation from God and his love.
“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”
The Rescue
The good news of the Bible is that God sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world in the form of a man. Jesus is God in the flesh. He is fully God and fully man. Because he never sinned, he had no guilt before God. God gave his son, Jesus, to die for us. In 2Cor.5:21 we read, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” When Jesus died on the cross, he bore our sins. He bore our guilt and paid our punishment, dying in our place. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” - Rom 5:8.
The story of redemption does not stop with Jesus’ death. We learn in the Gospels that Jesus rose from the dead, never to die again. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Our Response
To believe in Jesus is to accept all that Jesus taught and all that is taught about Jesus in the New Testament. To believe in Jesus is to place one’s confidence and security for life and eternity into his hands. Those who believe Jesus repent of their sin and rebellion against God. They call upon the name of the Lord Jesus to be saved.
Those who call upon Jesus in faith for salvation are saved. Their sins are forgiven. They are justified by God. To be justified is to be declared righteous in God’s sight, based on the fact that Christ paid the punishment for our sins. Those who embrace Jesus by faith immediately enter into the Kingdom of God. They receive the very eternal life of Jesus Christ. God comes to live in them (John 14:23). They become followers (students, apprentices) of Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
The Bottom Line
If you have never repented of your sin and called upon Jesus to save you, it is critical that you do so today. “Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. - 2Cor. 6:2.
If God is speaking to you about your need for Christ, you might pray a prayer like this:
Lord Jesus, I realize that I am a sinner and stand under your condemnation. I believe Jesus died for me and rose from the dead. I repent of my sin and ask you to save me from my sin. Forgive me and grant me your eternal life in the Kingdom of God. I surrender my life to you. I desire to follow you as my Savior and Lord. Lord, Jesus, help me to trust you and to follow in your footsteps as I live my life. Teach me how to love and serve you as I read your Word. Thank you for saving me. Amen.