I recently heard someone on the radio say that they have
been a Christian for their whole life. I’m
sorry to be contentious, but this actually isn’t possible. I know it may seem like I’m being rather
nitpicky, but this is actually very important.
Let me illustrate.
Periodically I’ll notice a little baby or toddler wearing
football attire, declaring allegiance to a certain team. It’s adorable, but in reality,
that baby is not really a fan of that team; the person who dressed that infant
is. Sometime that child has to make up
his or her own mind about whether they want to root for that team. It’s the same with
Christianity. At some point, you have to
decide that you want to have a right relationship with God, through Jesus
Christ. The
Bible says, “Yet to all who received Him, those who believed in His name, he
gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12).
I’ve talked about this before, but here’s how it happened
for me: I went to a Billy Graham crusade in 1987. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is
so simple that even a child can understand it and that’s what happened to me. Graham spoke about how the Bible says that all
have sinned; this sin is offensive, vile, and repugnant to God. Because of this sin, I stood guilty before
Him; worthy of condemnation. It didn’t matter
if I lived a good, virtuous, upright life because no one could ever perform
enough acts of righteousness to appease God’s holy hatred against sin.
But God, out of His amazing love for humanity, sent Jesus to Earth to die on
the cross to satisfy the righteous anger God has for sin.
Only Jesus, because He is both fully God and fully man, was qualified to
pay the price of mankind’s sin. Jesus presented
the “sacrifice of atonement” as it says in Romans 3:25, for all sins. Because of
this, I could actually have an intimate friendship and fellowship with the Creator
of the universe. I was invited to put my faith and trust in Christ, and I did so. Life hasn’t always been easy just because I
became a Christian, but I’ve never been the same since that day. This was, without a doubt, the best decision I’ve
ever made.
Kevin
“In Him [Jesus] we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished
on us with all wisdom and understanding” – Ephesians 1:7-8
