The Story God is Writing
When we talk about becoming a Christian, the temptation can be to make it too simplistic and cookie-cutterish, or too complex and fuzzy. If you have questions we hope this will help.
The story of your life is part of a bigger story, God’s story.
The Bible is the story of a loving God working to draw people to Himself. (John 12: 31, 32)
The beauty of the natural world around us suggests that there is a master Creator . . . a big, good God. (Genesis 1)
We also recognize that life is full of brokenness. Things are not as they should be, around us or inside us.
God created a perfect world for Adam and Eve, perfect companions in a world of abundance. He asked them to be fruitful and steward His creation, but God also gave them boundaries because He knew what was best for them. (Genesis 2)
Because God loved them perfectly, He gave them the choice to love Him back by obeying Him. Or not. (Genesis 3; Deuteronomy 30:19,20)
They chose “not” and through their disobedience sin entered the perfect world God created. (Romans 5:12)
The world is broken, and we are broken, because we have chosen over and over to ignore God and go our own way. (Romans 3:23)
The consequence for sin is death — both physical death and death in our relationship with God — separation from Him. (Romans 6:23)
The good news is that God loves us so much that He offers to reconcile our relationship through Jesus Christ. (John 3:16, 17)
In Jesus, God became flesh, lived a perfect life, and offered Himself as a sacrifice on the cross, dying for the sins of everyone. (Philippians 2:5-11, Ephesians 2:8,9)
He didn’t just die for us, He also overcame death, by coming back to life. This separates Christianity from all the other religions. (1 Corinthians 15:3-6, John 14:6)
For anyone who turns to Jesus, acknowledging his or her brokenness, asking for forgiveness, and trusting in Him, God offers the gift of a clean slate and eternal life with Him, starting right now. (John 1:12, Revelation 3:20)
In summary: God loved. God gave. We trust. We receive.
At any time, you can tell God you want to be reconciled to Him through Jesus and receive a new life (even right now). But that’s just the beginning. The next step is getting to know God better. Obeying and learning and growing and messing up and turning to God again and again for forgiveness and encouragement are part of life with Him. And gradually, bit by bit, becoming more of the person God made you to be. More like Jesus.
