Did you know that God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16)?
The Bible says that you, as a human being, are made in God’s image. That means that he made you distinct among all of his creation. Man and woman were made to reflect the image of God. That means we are made to be like our creator in the things that we do, say, and think (Genesis 1:26-27).
Unfortunately we all fall short of reflecting the image of God. All have sinned or disobeyed our holy Creator (Romans 3:23).
All of us have sinned. We have lied, coveted, lusted, dishonored our parents, and failed to worship God as God (Exodus 20). We have failed in what we were created to do, to reflect the character of God.
The Bible says that the wages or payment for sin is death (Romans 6:23). We all die because of the curse of sin in us. But we also are dead spiritually which means we are separated from God. Our relationship with God is broken because of our sin and we are incapable of mending it (Ephesians 2:1-3).
As God is the only true, good judge, he punishes sinners. The bad news is that we are all sinners!
But the good news or the gospel is that God gives us the free gift of life (Romans 6:23)! Eternal life with him, through Jesus Christ!
God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Jesus, who is the Son of God in eternity past, became a man, lived a life perfectly reflecting the character of God (because he is God) and then purposefully gave himself up to a criminal's death on a cross.
The Bible says that on the cross Jesus, the one who knew no sin, became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)! He took our punishment so that we could have his righteousness. What an exchange!
Only mankind should pay the penalty; only God could pay the penalty.
But Jesus didn’t stay dead. He rose again and had a brand new body and appeared to many people before returning to heaven to sit at God the Father’s right hand.
Jesus conquered death and sin and anyone who believes in him as their Savior and Lord will be saved from the power of sin and death!
Anyone who receives Jesus as their Lord and Savior has eternal life!
That means God himself, the Holy Spirit, comes and makes you new. He gives you new desires and helps you look more and more like Jesus in the things you do, say and think. He adopts you into his family, the church. When you die, you are taken to the presence of Jesus to live eternally with him.
Would you like to accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord? Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. We invite you to pray the following prayer.
Father God, I have sinned against you. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and rose again to give me new life! I accept this eternal life through him. I want Jesus to be Lord of my life from now on. Amen.
If you prayed this prayer you are a new creation!
The old is gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17)! God’s very presence is in you, comforting you, guiding you, and convicting you of sin. Your new life has begun. You are adopted into God’s family, the church.
We are not meant to live a life alone.
We need other believers in Jesus to help us and encourage us in this life of following after Jesus. We need the truth of God to teach us his ways. His word, the Bible, is truth (John 17:17). We must meditate on the Bible and live by it. We must tell others of the good news of Jesus and what he has done for you and for them.
Now that you've made this life-giving decision to live with Christ as the center of your life, growing as a new Christian is your next step. Tell somebody! You can find other Christians in your life or here at Sheboygan eFree who would love to hear about your new decision! Here are some other actions you can take to keeping growing in your faith.