The belief that makes you a Christian
Day 29
by Gini Crawford, MSW
The bad news
Let's reassess why we can't save ourselves from the consequences of sin. God didn't want puppets but people who would freely choose Him, so God created us with a free will. However, as you know with Adam's and Eve's free wills, they disobeyed God and chose evil and death instead of what God offered. This act bought sin into the world making us all sinners (Romans 5:12). It gets worse, God's holiness, righteousness, and justice can do nothing less than punish sin. Can we do anything to save ourselves from that punishment? No! This is because God is holy so His standard is perfection, and as sinners we have fallen short of that standard (1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 5:4; Romans 3:23). Remember, just one sin changed the entire human race and brought death then punishment to all, and we have certainly sinned a lot more than once. (Galatians 2:16).
What do you do with your free will that God gave you?
The good news
God never wanted to punish us, so His love for us drove Him to come down from heaven to take the punishment for our sins upon Himself. The only thing God asks us to do to be forgiven from our sins, is to believe in Jesus Christ. God gave Adam and Eve one request - to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to keep their life eternal, and as you know they flunked. Now God asks all of us only one thing - to believe in Jesus to gain life eternal again. (John 3:16; Colossians 1:13-15; 1 Peter 3:18). Pretty incredible if you truly think about it. Do you feel loved by God?
...that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Acts 10:43 ESV®
The gift that keeps on giving
It's pretty evident salvation had to be a gift from God because of sin. We receive the gift of being saved from our sins like we would receive any gift, we take it. However, instead of using our hand to take the gift of salvation from God, we take it by belief or faith in Jesus Christ.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God ... because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ... For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:1-9 ESV®
Because of God's love He allowed a simple act of faith in Him to give us eternal life. Would you call that a loving gift?
Christian or not
It's very important that you realize you are a sinner. This is because if you don't think you are a sinner, then you won't see your need for Jesus' death on the cross to pay for your sins. Makes sense doesn't it? If we are honest with ourselves, our natural inclination is to go our own way, not God's way, isn't it? (Romans 3:9-20).
So what makes you a Christian? You must believe in the Jesus Christ of the Bible. When you believe in Jesus Christ, you are saying, it is true Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and I trust only in His death to save me from my sins, not on anything I have done.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. John 3:16-18 ESV®
When this author became a Christian
At the age of 17, a friend kept inviting me to a youth Bible study at her church. I didn't want to go, so I made every excuse I could come up with. God very much wanted me there, so He took away every excuse. Finally, I ran out of excuses and went and loved it. Every time God's Word was talked about, I felt a peace.
At the Bible study the teacher talked about Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins so that God could forgive us. That statement got my attention immediately, because I knew I did wrong things that were against what God wanted. The teacher said, "If we believe we are sinners, then we should believe we need a Savior. He then told us about Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for our sins." He went on to say, "If any of you truly believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, you will be forgiven of your sins and they will never be held against you, because Jesus paid the penalty for those sins." I thought, "Who wouldn't want that forgiveness?" I also was taken back by the knowledge that God would die for my sins when He had done nothing wrong. I knew I had finally found unconditional love. That day I knew I needed a Savior, which led me to believe in Jesus Christ.
I am nearing 70 years old now and have never regretted believing in Jesus Christ. He is definitely my God, Savior and best friend. People have let me down but He never has. I am looking forward to meeting Him face to face in heaven. If you haven't made the decision to believe in Jesus, my question is, what are you waiting for?
Life Application
God's saving love
I do understand how hard it is to grasp God's sacrificial love. Who would ever think that the Creator would become a human, to take His own wrath and punishment upon Himself. Definitely a love beyond human love. (Psalm 48:9). Maybe that is why people struggle with believing in what Jesus did for them. God's gift of salvation is almost too good to be true, but it is.
... but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. / For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 5:8-10, 6:23 ESV®
To consider: God's love wasn't prompted by human works or even human love but by His absolute love for us. His love chose life for us when we were in a state of death. His love paid the full penalty for all sin, allowing us to choose eternal life. A friend of mine's husband laid down for an afternoon nap and woke up in Jesus' presence because he believed in Jesus. Read John 3:16-18; 1 John 4:9-10. Share your thoughts on these passages.
Reflect on Romans 6:23.