Are you curious about how a person becomes a Christian or are you considering becoming a Christian, that is, a believer and follower of Jesus Christ? The following are nine key truths to entering into a new and exciting spiritual life with Christ.
1) Recognizing the Truth About Yourself. Accepting the truth about yourself - the self inside - and be willing to acknowledge the wrongs in our lives is the starting point of entering into a new relationship with God. People tend to justify their wrong actions and thoughts. Many want to gloss over these things. God looks at each person and sees exactly what we are - and he doesn't like the wrong doing (sin) in our lives. He is holy; we are not.
2) Accept God's View of You. Through the Holy Scriptures (the Bible) God gives His evaluations. All people are sinners. You and I are in a helpless condition of sin and we cannot help ourselves - we cannot make the wrong doing in our lives right. The wrong of our lives (sin) separates us from God who is holy. We deserve to be punished for our sin and that punishment would mean separation from the God who made us. That separation would have to last as long as our sin -- forever. That eternal separation from one's own Creator is described as the worst thing a person can experience.
3) Understand that God Wants More For You. Sin and separation from God could have been the end of the story. God could simply have separated us from Himself without giving us the chance of forgiveness or leniency. But God loves people (you). He didn't want this eternal separation. He doesn't even want the temporary separation we have right now when we carry our own sins in our own souls.
4) God Is Motivated By Love For You. That is good news for a person who is carrying the weight of his own sins. God want better for us. He wants us to be forgiven for every wrong - big and small, in deed and thought - that we commit against Him.
5) God's Solution Had to Be Fair and Just. There are no shortcuts in God's justice system. Forgiveness is only possible if it is done in the right way. The penalty must be paid in full. God never underestimates the importance of evil and sin and neither should we. God is holy and His rightness requires wrongs to be set right. Yet because of His love He wanted to forgive us. He would provide a way by which we can be forgiven.
6) God's Help for You Is a Savior. God decided the only acceptable payment for sin would be for a sinless person to willingly accept the punishment on behalf of others. God sent His one and only Son from heaven to die on a cross to pay the penalty of people's sins. No one else was sinless and capable of paying the penalty for others. Jesus went to the cross willingly and knowingly so that people could be forgiven their sins. God has declared that the ultimate sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to cover any and all sin a person commits. Our sins cost God dearly.
7) God Has Only One Solution for Sin - There Is Only One Savior. If there was any other way, God would never have permitted His only Son to give himself as a sacrifice for sin. If it had not been absolutely necessary - if there was an easier way - God would have certainly spared Christ this terrible agony and Himself the unspeakable grief. But He did not spare Christ. The sacrifice that broke the heart of the heavenly Father was necessary and the only solution for sin. Forgiveness of our sins came at this price. Nothing less will do. The cost of your forgiveness could not be higher.
8) Believe in God's Savior and You Will Be Saved. What Christ did for us was a finished work of salvation. We can not add to it. We can never be 'good enough' to get to heaven. We cannot earn God's forgiveness. We can only, by faith, accept God's plan and make God's one and only Son our Savior. We make Jesus Christ our Savior by giving ourselves completely to him. This reaching out from our sinful state to embrace a loving Savior results in our sins being forgiven and our spiritual lives being so radically changed that it can only be described as be 'born again'. This is how to become a Christian.
9) A Life Is Yours That Will Never End. Once forgive, we can be sure that we will never be separated from God. We have received forgiveness and along with it came eternal life. Life for the Christian will go on forever. Just as the grave could not hold the Christ who came from heaven in its grasp, so those of us who claim Him as our Savior have been promised that sin and death will not hold us. We will be resurrected with eternal bodies and a future filled with the enjoyment of God that never ends. The new life as a Christian begins immediately and goes on forever. The Christian sees things different because God's Spirit is available and wanting to help. Becoming a Christian is the most important thing that will ever happen to you!
What a first century missionary, Paul, taught about God.
Here are seven verses from the Bible. They are all taken from the book of Romans found in the New Testament. You may want to get a Bible and look them up for yourself.
Everyone is a Sinner.
Romans 3:10 says, "as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one"
Our Sin Results in Our Demise.
Romans 6:23 says, "for the wages of sin is death"
God Loves Us and Christ Died for Us.
Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
Salvation is Found in Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9 says, "because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
The Gospel (Bible) Is Powerful.
Romans 1:16 says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Saved Persons Will Never Be Separated from God.
Romans 8:38-39 says, "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Saved Persons Need to Live Lives Pleasing to God.
Romans 12:11 says, "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
Do You Want to Become A Christian?
If you do, why not tell God? It is easy. Prayer is speaking with God. Telling Him anything you want. Prayer is also listening to God in a spiritual way. Listening for His answers and leading in your life. In your own way and in your own words you need to confess your sin, your need, and reach out to claim the love Christ has for you. You need to place all of your life, every bit of it, in His hands.
You can tell if this is real if...
- you feel sorrow for your past wrong doings
- really know that you are helplessness and will never be good enough to save yourself
- are willing to abandon your own efforts and trust Christ completely to save and forgive you
- you want to turn your life over to Christ and obey and serve Him
This is what Christ has promised to do for you...
- forgive you your sins and all wrong doings
- cleanse you from every wrong you ever did
- save you from any future judgment
- fill you with new purpose and plans
- give you a life filled with significance -- lived according to the plans that your Maker has for you.
If you have made the decision to become a Christian and you have whole-heartedly trusted Christ as your Savior, we would love to know about your decision. Please use our contact information and send us a message to share the news of your new relationship with God. We would like to pray for you to be strengthen in your new faith.
A great resource for people thinking about becoming a Christian is: www.jesuswho.org