Take a moment to think a little bit about your best friend. How close are you? Are you close enough that one of you would lay down your life for the other? Is your best friend willing to go through the toughest times with you? Not just standing by watching as you go through them, I mean actually bearing a portion of the burden. Friends like that are hard to find, aren't they?
Jesus said, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15: 13) He then urged those listening to him to love others as he loved them. Then He did just that, He laid down His life for them. In fact, He laid down His life for me and for you. Why? To reconcile us to God the Father.
You see, we are all born sinners. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, he condemned mankind to be separated from a Holy God for eternity. God is so Holy that He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, unless we are reconciled, unless that sin nature that we all have is blotted out, we cannot enter into Heaven where God is. That is why Jesus had to die on the cross. He is the Supreme Sacrifice. He died for us, His friends.
Oh, so we are all going to Heaven because Christ died on the cross? Not so fast there high speed. It takes two to reconcile anything, right? Well that means you have to do something too. You have to accept Him as your personal Savior. "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10: 10)
So just what does one have to do to be saved? I'm glad you asked. First there are some things that you must realize:
1. You must realize most of all that you are a sinner separated from God not only because of your sin (rebelliousness,) but because of Adam's original sin. "As it is written: there is none righteous, no not one." (Romans 3: 10) "For as by one man's (Adam's) disobedience many were made sinners..."Romans 5: 19a)
2. You must also realize that there is nothing you can do to save yourself. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." (Isaiah 64: 6a)"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost." (Titus 3: 5)
Once you realize these things, you can then be reconciled. Notice in the verse above it says "according to his mercy he saved us." This is how we are reconciled to God. We must understand and believe with every fiber of our being that Christ can save us; that He died for that very purpose. Then we must confess to Him that we believe it and ask Him to forgive us for our sins and save us. In other words, reconcile us.
Sounds too easy doesn't it? Don't be fooled by its simplicity. Many have died and gone to a place called Hell (which, by the way, was never meant for man, but instead for the Devil and his angels) because they believed there had to be more to it. God made the plan simple so that anyone, ANYONE can do it, not just the intelligent, not just the rich, or the famous, ANYONE. That includes YOU. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16) That "whosoever" means you!
Won't you take a minute and bow your head, right where you are, and tell God you love Him and that you want to be saved? I did it in February of 1978, and I have not regretted it for one minute. I won't tell you that all will be perfect after you do. He never promises that anywhere in the Bible. I will tell you though, that Jesus will go through the tough times with you, and He will bear much of the burden for you. But you must first put your trust in Him. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5c)
If you are still not sure what to tell God, you can use these words:
God, I know now that I am a sinner and that you cannot have anything to do with me until I am reconciled by Christ to you. I love you Lord and I want to be your child, but I can't do that myself. I need Jesus to save me, so I am asking Him to do that now. I place all of my trust in Him alone to save me. I turn from my sinful ways right now, and with the help of your Holy Spirit will live my life in a way that is pleasing to you. Thank you Jesus, for dying on the cross for me. For it is in your name I pray, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, and meant it, you are now a child of the King, on your way to Heaven when you die. "For as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1: 12)
If you did become a child of God today, won't you drop me a line and let me know, so I can rejoice along with you and all the angels in Heaven? Send an email to bwilber25@comcast.net.
If you have decided not to, let me just say this: You may be falling for the Devil's oldest trick. He won't say don't do it; he won't even say you don't need to do it. He will, however, say "Not now; you've got time; you can do that later." DON'T BELIEVE IT!
I just returned from Iraq. I have seen death first hand. One thing that each of those friends who died there had in common was this, they didn't know it was their day to die, even though they were in a war zone. In that very same way, you don't know that today is not YOUR day, even though chances are you are not in a war zone. One thing is for sure, Satan is not going to tell you, even if he does know.