| Where
can I go to find some answers?
Have
you ever felt that there must be more to life than what you're
experiencing? That there must be something more to it than
the same old daily grind?
If
so, then you'll want to read this carefully because it could
hold the answer to what you've been looking for and answer
some of your deepest questions about life and its meaning.
It's our prayer that these answers will lead you to a New
Life!
Since
God is the Author of life, He is the only one who can explain
it.
He said that
true life can only be found in His Son, Jesus Christ.
"The Father has life in himself,
and he has granted his Son to have life in himself."(John
5:26);
"So
whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his
Son does not have life."(1 John 5:12)
Yeah, well I'm really
not into religion. In fact, I don't even like it.
That's great,
because right off the bat, you and Jesus Christ have something
in common. Jesus didn't like religion either. I don't want
to talk to you about religion; I want to tell you about Christianity.
What is Christianity?
Christianity
is not a religion, it's a relationship. A relationship with
Jesus Christ.
What's
the difference?
Religious
groups tend to try and make you follow a set of man-made rules.
Rules that not even God makes you follow. Religious organizations
try to make you fit into their own "special" mold.
They try to make you into the kind of person that they
think you should be, instead of the kind of person God
wants you to be. Sadly, very often, they will actually turn
a person away from God instead of helping them find God and
draw close to Him.
And Christianity doesn't?
No it doesn't, because Christianity
isn't a religion. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ. A
relationship that comes from accepting Him as your personal
Savior, and just coming to know Him and love Him above all
else.
It's not
a bunch of man-made "don'ts" ("don't do this"
or "don't do that" ). Christianity centers more
on the "do's." "Do's" like "Loving
the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all
your mind, and all your strength." (Mark 12:30)
And, "Loving your neighbor as yourself." (Mark
12:31) When you "do" these things, you won't have
to worry about the "don'ts," because they will
take care of themselves.
What do you mean by "accepting Jesus Christ"?
When I say
accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, I mean tell Him
that you believe He is the Son of God, who died for your sins
and rose from the dead. It also means to make Him your Lord
(the person you've surrendered control of your life to).
Why do I need Jesus Christ?
Because without
Jesus your life will never take on meaning and purpose. But
most importantly, without accepting Jesus Christ you will
not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Do you mean to tell me,
without believing in Jesus Christ I can't get into heaven?
That's right, because you
can't get into heaven by self-effort. You can't get to heaven
by being good—you need faith in Jesus Christ to get
you there. "knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law (good deeds) but by faith in
Jesus Christ'for by the works of the law no person shall be
justified (go to heaven)." (Galatians 2:16)
But I'm a good person!
Maybe by man's
standards, but not by God's standards. "For all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans
3:23); "Our good deeds are like filthy rags before
God." (Isaiah 64:6); "There is not one
who does any good, not even one." (Psalms 14:3)
But I always thought I had to be good to get into
heaven?
Unlike
what most people think, when you die God doesn't take all
your good deeds and bad deeds and weigh them on some kind
of spiritual scale; and if your good deeds outweigh the bad,
you get into heaven. On the contrary, God said that to get
into heaven you have to be perfect, sinless. "Therefore
you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."
(Matthew 5:48)
No one is perfect! Who then can possibly get into
heaven?
"With
men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
(Matthew 19:26)
We can't live
a perfect life, but Jesus did. We couldn't die to pay for
our own sins, so Jesus died for us. All that God requires
from you is to put your faith in His Son, who loves you and
gave His life for you. "For He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness
of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21); "He
who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does
not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
abides on him." (John 3:36)
That is why you are saved through
your faith in Jesus Christ and not by your good works. "For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone
should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9) If your
salvation was attained by your good works, it wouldn't be
a gift from God, you would have earned it.
Do you mean that all I have to do to get into heaven
is to accept Jesus as my Savior and Lord; believing that He
died for my sins and rose from the dead?
That's right.
"If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you
shall be saved." (Romans 10:9)
I can't believe it. It's too easy!
It's
easy because Jesus Christ made it easy. But for Him it wasn't
easy at all. He did all the work, including suffering the
horrible pain of a torturous death on the cross just to make
it easy for you, because He loves you so very much. "But
he was wounded and crushed for our sins. He was beaten that
we might have peace. He was whipped, and we were healed! All
of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths
to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him (Jesus)
the guilt and sins of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6)
Does God really love me that much?
Yes, He does. "For God
so loved the world (you) that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish (in
hell) but have everlasting life (in heaven)."
(John 3:16) "But God demonstrates His own love
toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died
for us." (Romans 5:8)
Are you sure that Jesus Christ isn't just a crutch
for you Christians?
You bet your life He's a crutch.
But when you're crippled, what's wrong with a crutch? Besides,
don't let anyone fool you. Everyone's got a crutch. Everyone's
got something they lean on. Some people depend on alcohol
to be their crutch. Others lean on drugs. Some people make
money their crutch. While still others look to their friends,
family or career for support.
You see,
everyone has some kind of crutch that they depend on. The
only difference being, when I turn to my Crutch and cry out
for help, my Crutch answers and helps me. Does your crutch
do that for you? My Crutch strengthens me in all my afflictions.
My Crutch leads me and guides me, He laughs with me in the
good times and cries with me in the bad. And I know my Crutch
loves me because not only did He tell me so, He proved it.
"Greater love has no man than this, than to lay
down His life for His friends." (John 15:13) I
wonder if you can say the same for your crutch?
Well, I don't know if I even believe in God. I mean
look at all the suffering and evil in the world. If there really
is a God, why does He allow it to continue?
Hold it a
minute! God didn't cause evil and suffering, man did! We're
so quick to blame God for the mess we've gotten ourselves
into. Why does man allow it to continue? Why does man kill,
steal, lie and hate? Why do we turn our backs on God, and
go totally against His will for our lives, living in evil
and sin? Then we look at our world (a world that's only a
product of our own sinful lives) and we say to God, "Why
are You doing this to us?"
Remember, God is a God of love.
His plan was to create a race of people that would love Him.
People free from evil, suffering and death. But genuine love
cannot exist unless freely given through free will. And thus
man was given the choice to accept God's love or reject it.
Death and suffering entered the world through sin, man's own
sin.
But it was God who came down from
heaven in the Person of Jesus Christ, and died on the cross
for our sins; giving us a pardon to the death sentence we
had brought upon ourselves through sin. And also to give us
life (eternal life), if only we'd believe in Him. "For
since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection
of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all
shall be made alive." (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)
But I've got so many problems in my life. I doubt
if even Jesus Christ can help me.
Don't you
believe it! There is no problem too big or too small for God.
Remember, you're talking about the Creator of the universe.
"Behold, I am the Lord… Is there anything too
hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27); "For
with God nothing will be impossible." (Luke 1:37)
But He won't begin to put your life back in order until
you turn your life over to Jesus Christ. God doesn't want
religion from you; He wants a relationship with
you!
Are you sure He wants to help me?
I'm positive.
Jesus said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew
11:28) The Bible says of God that He "heals the
broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds." (Psalm
147:3-4) And God also said, "Call upon Me
in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor
Me." (Psalm 50:15)
I don't know, I've done some pretty awful things
in my life. Are you sure God will forgive me?
He
not only will forgive you, He wants to forgive
you. He's just waiting for you to invite Jesus into your heart
and ask for His forgiveness. "For the Lord is good,
and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kindness to all
who call upon Him." (Psalm 86:5)
All right, I'm ready. How do I invite Jesus Christ
into my life? I'm tired of living for myself; I want to start
living for God!
First of all, the Bible says that
you must repent. This means that you're sincerely and honestly
sorry for all the sins of your life. It also means that you
truly desire to turn away from your sins and to live for God
from this moment on. Then you pray this prayer and
sincerely mean it with all your heart.
"Dear
Lord Jesus, I am truly sorry for all the sins of my life;
please forgive me. I accept You, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior.
I believe that You died for my sins and rose from the dead.
I ask You to come into my life and into my heart. Give me
the strength, Lord, to live for You, loving You above all
else. Thank You, Jesus, for giving me a new life. I ask all
of this in Your precious name, Amen."
Welcome to the family! From this
moment on, you are a child of God. "But as many
as received Him, to them He gave the right to become the children
of God, even to those who believe in His name." (John
1:12)
As a child
of God, look to Him each day for the strength to live for
Jesus Christ from now on. The old life is now gone, from this
moment on you are to live a new life in Christ.
"What
this means is that those who become Christians become new
persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is
gone. A new life has begun!"
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
As a new believer in Christ the
Bible says, "And you won't spend the rest of your
life chasing after evil desires, but you will be anxious to
do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the
evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality
and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties,
and their terrible worship of idols. (1 Peter 4:2-3)
Begin to read the Bible everyday
to nourish and strengthen you spiritually. Talk with the Lord
in prayer as much as possible, He always loves to hear from
one of His children. Ask God to help you find a Bible teaching
Christian church, and attend regularly.
May the Lord fill you with His love,
may He bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine
upon you and give you peace.
"For
this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease
to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge
of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious
power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving
thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in the light." (Colossians
1:9-12)
If
you have any questions, please let us know - we would love
to talk to you!
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