You see, so many people don't actually know what being a christian is. It's not:
- Going to church
- Reading the bible
- Hanging out with christians
- Believing in God
- Being a good person
- Doing good deeds in the name of "God"
- Feeding the poor
Being a christian, technically, means being a "follower of Christ". Another term, that I guess has kinda gotten old these days is to be born again. Now, I imagine for some people, this concept may seem kind of edgy and strange. I mean, how does that work? I wouldn't judge you for asking. In fact, the first time Jesus used this phrase, the man he was speaking to was a really high up, intelligent guy in the Synagogue who would have studied the scriptures (Old Testement) from a young age and know them back to front and he didn't understand it AT ALL. He thought all he needed to be saved and receive eternal life was to live a good life according to God's law (Ten Commandments etc) and to be Jewish. Done and done. He was aaaalll good. Right? Wrong. Or so Jesus said anyway.
But why?
I've started reading the bible every day this year in an effort to read it all in a year. Today's chapter in the New Testement is John 3. It's the chapter where Jesus is chatting to this Pharisee (high up, important dude) who is all perplexed 'cause he's just been told he's not entering the kingdom of God unless he is "born again". Rightly so, he asks Jesus to explain as, being an intelligent man, he knows this can't mean being born again physically (bet his mum wouldn't be up for it either!). Jesus says this:
So, Jesus is talking about being born again of the Spirit. Whatever that is, I bet you're thinking. He then goes on to say, probably the best known verse in the whole bible (I'm going to give you the verse running up to it aswell, just 'cause I'm nice like that):"Truly, truly I say to you, unless ine is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." John 3: 5-6
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness*, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world [in this way], that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."John 3:14-16 (italics my own)BAM. A couple of things about this should stand out to you: God loves the world. That means everyone, whoever they are, whatever they've said or done, how drunk they've gotten, whether they like to sleep with men or women, whether they're the new Mother Teresa or they're in jail for killing someone. Second, God gave his son so that anyone of these people, latterly mentioned, could be saved. Note that, these people need to be saved in the first place.
A lot of people ask, if God loves everyone then why doesn't he let everyone into Heaven? Good question. The answer is this: we need to be saved and the only one who can do it is Jesus. Saved from what? Fill in the blank as you like: that feeling where you wonder why you're here at all, that nobody cares about you, that guilt about that thing you've done that's eating you up inside, that constant feeling like you are never going to be good enough. Here's the thing. None of us are perfect, I'm pretty sure everyone knows that. The thing that prevents us from being perfect is called sin. It's the reason you do that thing, that thing you know you shouldn't do, but you end up doing it anyway because the temptation is too great. It's that thing that lets you say all the wrong stuff to people you care about and to get angry and to hurt people, and to hurt yourself.
In another book of the bible called Romans, a man called Paul writes this:
"For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Chapter 3:23
That's right: all of us. Even all those "high up, snooty" christians who appear to think they're better than you. They're not. They are just as dirty, scarred, hurt and imperfect as we are. Later in the book, Paul writes this:
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord."
Chapter 6:23
"So," you're saying, "Amy, you're telling us we're all imperfect and sinful, and because of that, someday we're going to die. You're also saying that God loves me, and He sent His son to save me. How does that work? Everyone dies. Nobody can live forever. And you said he'll save us from all the guilt and sin, how? And what do I even need to do to get it? And you still haven't explained what being a christian really is."All in good time.
Because we've sinned, we have to die. However, this is death on two levels. Firstly physical, because sin is a disease. It spoils every good thing and kills it. The second, which most people don't know about, is death in the sense of being separated from the Living God forever. That is why not everyone can go to Heaven. Why? Because God is holy and perfect, and it doesn't matter how much He loves you, if you have sin in your life that stops you from spending eternity with Him in Heaven because God and sin are incompatible. They can't be together.
So, how can Jesus save us? Death is the price to pay for sin. That price needed to be paid, and God loves us so much that He couldn't let us pay it ourselves. So he sent his son into the world, not 50/50 man-God, 100% man and 100% God. 100% man, because in order to pay for man's sin, he had to be a man or it wouldn't be valid payment, right? 100% God because, if he was less than that he wouldn't have been able to live a completely perfect life in order to pay for OUR sin. If Jesus had sinned he would have been just like the rest of us, unable to pay. Oh yeah, and also he wouldn't have been able to rise from the dead and therefore defeat death.
Right, so, the price has been paid. How can we benefit from it? How come we weren't all automatically saved when Jesus died? Because God loves us.
"What?!" I hear you ask. I know, hold on.
God loves us, and that's why He gave us all a choice. God would never force anyone to love Him. Besides, would it really be love if it were forced? So, He leaves it up to us to decided whether we want His gift of life and forgiveness and eternal life.
Well who wouldn't want that?
"Okay," you're saying, "then how do I 'accept' it? Is there some big religous ceremony; do I have to stand up in front of people and make big, fancy vows; do I have to dress nicely? No, no and no- not unless you want to dress nicely anyway, haha. Here it is in a nutshell, again from Paul's letter to the Romans:
"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." Chapter 10:9
That's it. Not probably or maybe, you will be saved. You only need to ask. Your debt is paid and you are free to live a life free from the compulsion of sin. You're not perfect, you're still a sinner y'know, but you've started the journey of becoming less like a sinner and more like Jesus. You're free. You can't know what that feels like until you experience it; it's like you've had a rucksack weighing 10kg on your back all day and someone comes along and says, "I'll take that for you."
So, what is being a christian then? It's being born again, getting a fresh start and living your life the way God intended it to be; in a relationship with him. Listening to him by reading His Living Word the bible and getting to know Him and hear His voice, and always having someone to listen to your problems and help you through. It's realising that other people don't have the salvation you've accepted and telling them about it so that they might be saved aswell. You have a heavenly father, ready to accept you with open arms if you'll only open your heart to Him and ask Him to forgive you.
I don't know your problems, your troubles or your doubts. But I know mine, and I know that I manage to deal with them because I have my heavenly Dad helping me out. I can't imagine what not having that would be like, but I'm guessing it's not great.
I don't share my faith with people because it's "the christian thing to do", or because I want to show off how "good" I am. I don't do it to annoy you (whether you'll believe that or not). I do it because I love you. I don't know exactly what Hell is like, yes it exists too, but I know that it's somewhere neither I not you want to be.
If you had the cure to cancer, would you keep it to yourself? It's like that. I want people to know the salvation that I know, to have the relationship with God that He's given me the opportunity to have, and to come and party it up in Heaven with Him and me once this life is gone instead of spending eternity in the place where God isn't, and pain is.
If you've read all of this, firstly, well done. And secondly, don't go away and forget about it. If you don't believe it, then investigate- is eternal life worth missing out on just because you couldn't be bothered to look into it?
I'm going to leave you with the continuation of what Jesus was telling the Pharisee:
"For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come into the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes into the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." John 3:17-21Over and out. God bless you all.
