Becoming a Christian
Whatever you might think about your need for God, one thing with which you will have to agree is that the world is not the way it’s supposed to be. Along with the beauty of this world come the wars, corporate corruption, high crime rates, wasteful spending, broken families and ruthless illnesses. And if you look carefully at yourself, you will notice how often you make decisions that benefit you, not others; how quickly you think negative thoughts of others; and how often you are filled with fear, regret, anxiety or emptiness. All of these symptoms point to a core problem that the Bible describes as “sin.” While not necessarily a popular term these days, “sin” is the only explanation for why the world is not the way it’s supposed to be.
Not everyone calls sin “sin,” but everyone reacts to its presence in different ways. Some people become committed optimists, blindly acting as if sin is not that bad, and hoping naively that one day it will simply disappear. Other people become grumpy cynics, refusing to trust anyone and always assuming the worst. The Bible strikes a balance between the two – it tells us that sin is very real, and even more sobering, that we humans are to blame for it. In fact, all of us are a lot more sinful than we would ever want to know. But the Bible also tells us that God himself was willing to correct the problem by entering into our world as a man – Jesus Christ. God didn’t flee from the sin problem, and neither did he leave it up to us to correct on our own. Instead, he battled against sin in the life of Jesus Christ, never caved in to its temptation, submitted to its power for a brief time when he was executed on a Cross, and finally overcame its stranglehold on humanity when Jesus was raised bodily from the dead. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see life overcoming death, good overcoming evil, and the resumption of the way things are supposed to be.
Christians are people who believe this story. They don’t think it’s a fable or legend, but an event that actually occurred in history almost 2,000 years ago. And because they believe it is real, they strive to follow Jesus in their own lives. In fact, you might say they are so impressed with Jesus that they love him. Christians are people who have fallen in love with Jesus Christ. This is not hard to understand when you consider that Jesus has victoriously fought the battle with sin, taking its penalties upon himself by dying on a Cross, and then raising from the dead so that all who believe in him would have all of their sins wiped away, and would even be able to look forward to having their own bodies raised from the grave one day. It’s like a wonderful cosmic exchange has taken place: our sins are placed on Jesus, and the perfections of Jesus are placed on us. He takes our filth; we take his excellence. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). No greater act of love and sacrifice has ever been performed by anyone in all of history.
As impressive as this is, we still have not addressed the issue of how one becomes a Christian. You might agree with everything that has been written here so far and still not be a Christian, because a Christian is not just someone who acknowledges intellectually that certain events took place, but rather someone who is willing to honestly admit that the real problem with the world is not poverty or racism or greed, but me. I am the problem. I have disobeyed God. I have ignored God. I have preferred evil to goodness. I have chosen to rationalize my behavior rather than honestly face the truth about myself – that I am a sinner in need of God’s grace. If you are willing to do this, you are ready to become a Christian. This why Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs will be the kingdom of heaven.” (Mat. 5:3).
It is important to understand that no one becomes a Christian by trying to be a good person. This is impossible. No one is good enough to earn God’s favor, which is why it was so necessary for the divine Jesus to live a perfect life in our place. In fact, a helpful distinction is that the Christian faith is not “good advice,” but “good news.” When one receives “good advice,” he/she tries to follow the advice in order to earn some kind of reward. This is not Christianity. Rather, the Christian is one who trusts in the “good news” of an event fully accomplished in the past, which is the very nature of the Gospel. Jesus did everything required to make God delight in you with singing, and it is through your faith that you can mysteriously be placed in union with the eternal, holy, righteous son of God. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith; and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
To become a Christian, you first must come to grips with your own guilt. Once you can admit that you are to blame for your sin, then you can ask God for forgiveness, and trust that Jesus Christ lived the life you should have lived, and died the death you should have died. Don’t worry that your past sins are too severe, or whether your motives are exactly pure, or whether you have all your questions answered. Jesus said, “whoever comes to me, I will never drive away.” (John 6:37). Take him at his word. You can pray right now to receive Christ, with words that might go like this:
“God, I confess to you that I have sinned against you. I will not make excuses any longer. I realize that I need forgiveness, and that I can not erase my sin with my own efforts to be good. Instead, I need your grace, and I now accept by faith the offer of forgiveness and righteousness that you extend to me in Jesus Christ. I entrust my whole eternity to you, and I ask you to enable me to pursue you all the days of my life, to turn from my sins toward your righteous ways, and to overcome my unbelief. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.”
The only natural response to receiving forgiveness from God is that you would now want to follow Christ. This is a lifelong process that will meet with many ups and downs, but it is essential to the Christian life, and involves such activities as weekly church attendance, prayer, Bible reading, relationships with other Christians, a daily habit of turning from sin, and more. Through all of this, God will begin making your life more like it’s supposed to be, and you won’t want to go back.
If you have decided to become a Christian as a result of reading this, and would like help in following Christ; or if you have further questions about the Christian faith, please click here to contact us.
