Four years ago today God saved my life. He saved me from a life of hoping I was good enough to go to heaven, a life of doing everything on my own, and a life of going to hell. That day he gave me true life, and life way better than I had ever had. Life has never been so good. Even in the hard times I know that He is there, that He understands and cares, and that He is going to carry my through. I have learned through every hard time that He is faithful in showing up, and through that I have experienced how much he cares about me. Never has He left me side to walk through life alone, even in the grimmest of times, when I don't know how I'm going to make it through, He's been right there, always pulling me through. For that I thank Him! I thank Him for the love He has for me. That He saw my brokenness, my unrighteousness, and made my righteous. God sees the people of this earth, and despite our harsh words against Him and/or our decisions to not follow Him, He still loves us.
Romans 5:8-9
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
Four years ago is when I began my journey of discovering what this meant. I had parents and grandparents on both sides who knew the importance of going to church, so we went every Sunday.(which I am so thankful for!) However, even through that, my life was the same as someone who didn't go to church. I was no better off in getting into heaven than they were. My prayers were out of fear because I wanted God to see I was trying to be a good christian, but at the same time I wasn't following His commandments. All my going to church, all my prayers, my volunteering of time, I could never do enough of that to get on God's "good side". You know, the side we want to be on, the side that hopefully means we get to walk through the gates of heaven when our time comes.
John 3:16 says this:
John 3:16 says this:
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
But what does that mean for us? Why is it so important and said so often? This verse talks about the greatest gift ever given. A gift we know is something you receive, you did nothing for it, someone just bought it for you and gave it to you. That's exactly what God did for you: He gave you the free gift of eternal life, He gave you a free way into heaven. Sin separates us from God, and the punishment for sin is death/eternal separation from God. Jesus paid that punishment for us. Jesus died on the cross, was separated from God the Father, just as we should have been. Because Jesus paid the penalty of sin for us, now all we have to do is accept the gift that God has given us. It's not enough to know intellectually that God is real and that Jesus died on the cross. We must believe that He died on the cross for us personally, that "my" sins were paid for.
Four years ago is when I believed this. I went to church on Easter night and in one way or another said those words, but it didn't stop there. I now was saved I had eternal life, but there was more waiting for me. I started going to a bible study and learning what the bible said about God. I began to understand who He was and His words brought peace and understanding to my life. I began to understand who God really was and is: the characteristics of Him, how He really thinks of me and how He wants me to live. I realized everything He set in place, all His commandments were out of love. As my creator, He knew what was best for me, and what wasn't. Just like a cell phone creator knows water isn't good for a phone and tells you to keep it dry, because the phone won't work properly. The same is true with our lives, what God tells us not to do is because it's not good for our lives. Our lives are the best when we follow His ways. We can follow them and still live, but it won't be living life to its fullest or greatest, and that I can say I have come to know is true. I lived my life how I wanted, and when I started following God's ways I saw the beauty in which He created life, I finally found true life,and true joy!
If you don't know Jesus I challenge you to begin finding out. Find a church, a bible study, someone you can ask questions and dive into it with all your effort, I promise you He's worth it.
Today Jesus is Risen, He died for our sins, and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death! Amen!
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