Non-Christians often have negative ideas and preconceptions about what a Christian is. Whether it is that Christians are "Bible Bashers" who are only interested in "converting" you. Or people who get their kicks from attending boring, formal and mundane church services.
Despite these distortions, Christians believe in the vital importance of people having the opportunity to hear and consider the claims of the historical person of Jesus Christ. Why they believe this is what you need to judge as you read on.
To be a true Christian, a person must be a follower of Jesus Christ and his teachings as recorded in the Bible by those who knew him best, his original disciples.
This implies an understanding about who Jesus is. We believe that the testimony of the Bible is that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things. He is the living God who became a human being to relate to us and our experience to restore us into relationship with himself.It is not good enough to just accept the bits of Jesus teachings that we like and that suit our own desires. If we would be his disciples we must study and learn about what he said and what he continues to say to us through his Holy Spirit.
A CHRISTIAN RECOGNISES THE FOLLOWING TO BE TRUE:
Where Human Beings Fail....
All human beings have sinned, that is, we all do wrong things. Not all the time and in differing degrees, but none of us lives a perfect life. We are born and naturally tend to live out of relationship with the God who created us. We are naturally self seeking and this tendency often causes us to offend against others when our interests are threatened, or we are inconvenienced.
What we do not realize is that when we offend against others we also offend against God. God intends that human beings put him first and then to do their best to live in right relationship with those around them. We are wrong people living wrong lives carelessly and recklessly, but mainly we just fail to live in the kind of relationship with God that he intended for us to have.
God's Answer to our biggest problem!
Jesus lived out a perfect human life. No one was able to rightly accuse him of sin. He lived his entire life in relationship with God and lit up the sin in the lives of those around him like a floodlight. At the same time he did not condemn people but called them to follow him. He offered the way out of a life lived in sin and he still offers the same way out today!
- What does God expect
of us?
The third chapter of John's
Gospel says that people are stubborn, arrogant and will not acknowledge
God or accept his salvation from sin. They "love the darkness rather than
the light because they have done the wrong thing". The Gospel of John Chapter
3 Verse 19
What is Repentance?
Often people think that God will not acknowledge them because of the bad things they have done. God's loves us so much though that we can come to him just as we are, and he will receive us. All God requires is that we repent, that is, to admit our error in living the wrong way to please ourselves and humbly commit ourselves to change and to walk our lives in relationship with him.
If we will do this, Jesus
offers forgiveness and an opportunity to follow him and be his disciple
which leads to life.
Why and how will Jesus judge me?
Jesus said that he did not come into the world to judge the world, but that his words would be the judge of peoples hearts in the final day.
Jesus promises in the Bible that he will judge people who having been offered a way out of a sinful life still choose to live in it. For those who haven't heard they will still find no excuse because as Paul says in the Bible "For what can be known about God is plain to people, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made". (Romans 1:18-20).
God shows people in their
hearts that he exists but they do not listen to his prompting. Also their
conscience shows them that they are not living the right way and prods
them when they do wrong. God will judge those who have not heard the Gospel
by these things within themselves.
What about all those who have never heard?
If someone really wanted
to know God, then God who knows the thoughts of the hearts of people would
find some way to reach them with his message of salvation. God's judgment
is profound and awesome. For stubborn and unrepentant human beings who
think wrongly or to highly of themselves God issues an awesome warning.
Will not the judge of all the earth do right! Surely he says to you today
that he will reveal his Judgment at a time fast approaching.
What if I reject Jesus and his way of salvation?
If we have lived in sin then the final destination of such a life is the lake of fire where there is no light but only the continual burning forever. God never intended a human being to go there. God does not intend for you to go there. God is not threatening us but in his love for us, giving us a solemn warning about the outcome of a life lived in sin.
It is an awesome warning
we all do well to heed. The good news of the Gospel is that God has made
a way for you and I to be saved from this end.
What about Jesus?
Jesus came to earth and was born as a human being to rescue us who are trapped in sin. As God, he caused himself to be born through the womb of a Jewish girl by the name of Mary. Mary had had no sexual union but was only betrothed to a man named Joseph. He lived in what is today northern Israel near the sea of Galilee during the time of the Roman Empire. He was born and lived as a Jew in the Jewish culture till the age of about thirty under his parents Joseph and Mary.
He then initiated a time of teaching in which he taught Israel and through them the rest of us about who he was and what he came to do. He demonstrated to Israel who he was by claiming the title that they had heard of God by the "YHVH" or "I am". For this claim, some of them tried to stone him for blasphemy. He performed many miraculous signs, healing sick people by the power of God, even raising the dead.
He also taught us about what we need to do, that is to put aside anything that would hold us back and follow him. Finally he performed the greatest work humanity will ever know. He willingly went to a brutal and violent death for our sake. He was crucified on a Roman Cross through the evil of human beings and died. He stayed in the realm of the dead till the third day and then through his power as God rose from the grave to life.
He appeared to his disciples and proved to those who had watched him die that he was not a ghost but a living human being. After a time he ascended to heaven and sent another person from within his being the Holy Spirit to show his presence to those who would follow him until he would return.
Knowing this we need to
make a response. God doesn't judge people for not knowing what to do. God
does judge people however when they know full well what they need to do,
but do not do it.
So knowing this, what kind of a response do you need to make?
Firstly you need to introduce
yourself to Jesus and speak to him sincerely and earnestly. He sees your
motivations and knows if you mean what you say. Here are some words that
you can say to him either in your mind or out loud to introduce yourself
to him and to commit yourself to follow him.
| Lord Jesus, I confess my sins
and ask for forgiveness. With thanks I receive the forgiveness you
bought for me on the cross. I ask you to come into my life by your Holy
Spirit and cause me to be born again.
Please help me to know you as I read about your life on this earth and your teachings as recorded in the Bible. Please help me to follow you and serve you. Thank you for changing me to become the person that you want me to be. |
If you have responded and asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life then he has heard your prayer and caused you to be born again. He will begin to show himself to you in your life by the Holy Spirit. You also need to get hold of a Bible and start reading the Gospels of John, Mark, Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. Also find some people who know Jesus as their Lord and have made a commitment to him like this one. Attend a church which honours Jesus as God and is committed to following him.
If you have responded to follow Jesus please e-mail me below :
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