I've noticed quite a few people posting things on FACEBOOK lately regarding Jesus Christ or God. If you believe 'this', post LIKE. Things like "If you believe Jesus died on the cross" or "With God all things are possible" . I dare say any of my FACEBOOK friends would not agree with those statements. Yet the question that comes to my mind is, how many are truly believers?
If I were to ask "Are you are Christian?" I would imagine the majority of people would answer "YES". But if you were to answer YES to that question, my next question I would ask is "What is your definition of a Christian?"
You see today many churches across this land will be filled with people who THINK they are Christians or who call themselves Christians. Many more will NOT be in church and have not been to church in a very long time, yet they still refer to themselves as Christians.
So I am asking the question for each of you who reads this to ponder and answer. Are YOU a Christian and if so, what are you basing that response on?
Is it because you are the member of a church? Being a member of a church is definitely important for God says that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. But....having your name on a church roll is not enough unless it is ALSO written in the Lamb's Book of Life. "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened....and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Rev. 20: 12, 15
Is it because you have lived a good life...you are a good person? No matter how good you are by man's standards, it's God's standards that count in the end. He says "For ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. It doesn' t matter how many good deeds you do, you will still fall short. You still have a sin debt and according to God "the wages [or price] of sin is death" Romans 6:23
Is it because you believe in God? So do the devils! "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble." James 2: 19
You see, my Friend, there is only one way that you can be a genuine Christian and that is by placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That doesn't mean having a HEAD knowlege or acknowledging that there IS a God. It means recognizing that you are a sinner who has fallen short of God's standards and that you are in need of a Savior.
Maybe you know all this but you've thought "I'm not ready yet to make this decision. I want to live like I want to for a little while longer". Maybe you've thought "When I get a little older and I'm ready to settle down". If that has been your thinking, let me tell you about 2 of my neighbors. One was a beautiful young woman, 38, with 2 small children who would appear to have her whole life ahead of her. But in the blink of an eye it was all over when a tractor trailer collided with the car in which she was riding. Our other neighbor, an older gentleman, was out cutting his grass in his front yard one day and a couple of days later was gone...dying of a massive heart attack. You see none of us know the number of our days. We know one thing for sure and that is ALL of us have an appointment with DEATH. Your appointment COULD be today.
Maybe the reason you've never made this decision was that you've done some things in your life that you are ashamed of. Maybe you feel like that God couldn't possibly want you. Oh my friend, you are SO wrong! God loves you. "But God commended His love to us, in that while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 Did you catch that? Christ died for you while you were YET a sinner! He does not say 'get cleaned up first'. You can't get clean enough to come to Christ. If that were the case, none of us would ever come. He says come as you are with all your faults, all your failures, all your scars. He loves you just the way you are. His love is unconditional. There is nothing you can do to cause Him to love you more. And, there is nothing you can do to cause Him to love you less.
I hope that if you have continued reading to this point and you realize that you've carried the label "CHRISTIAN" for many years but without foundation, you will read just a few more lines....
Or if you KNOW that you are not and have thought "one day" or maybe you've even said "never", I pray you will continue to read one just a little more......
TODAY, my Friend, you can come to Christ. You can become a CHRISTIAN. John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that WHOSOEVER [that's YOU] believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Right now, wherever you are reading this...you can bow your head and talk to the Lord. Acknowledge you are a sinner. Repent and turn from your sin, turn TO Christ, believing that He died for YOUR sin on the cross and rose from the grave. "If you shall confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteouness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation...for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10: 9-10, 13. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Ask Him to come into your heart and be your Savior. Then thank Him for His salvation.
Your prayer might sound something like this :
Lord Jesus....I know that I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I need your forgiveness. I believe that you died on the cross to pay for my sins. You paid a debt I could not pay even though it was a debt you did not owe. I want to turn from my sin and turn to follow you instead. I ask you to forgive me and to come into my heart and life. I ask you to be my Savior. Thank you Lord for saving me. In Jesus' name...Amen
You see salvation is a FREE gift. You cannot earn it by good works; you cannot buy it; you cannot get it by osmosis (just because your parents were Christians you do not automatically become one). The only way to receive God's salvation is to receive it from the One who purchased it for you....JESUS CHRIST. He's holding out His hand to you today..........won't you receive His gift?
If you do, the next thing you need to do is to tell someone....your pastor, your Christian friend, your parents or ME!!:) Then find a church if you are not currently attending one. Be sure it is a Bible believing church. Then get a Bible if you do not have one and begin reading it. Maybe you could start by finding the passages I've given you here. Read them and underline them. Begin reading the book of John. That is a good place to start. And finally pray. Just talk to God like you would talk to your best friend. He IS your best friend, you just didn't know it til now.
I can promise you the decision to follow Christ will be the greatest decision you ever make. He promises to never leave you or forsake you. He will walk with you every moment of every day and one day He will take you to Heaven to live with Him forever.
If you prayed that prayer or if you have questions, I hope that you will contact me through the comment section below or via email on FACEBOOK. I would love to know that every one of my FACEBOOK friends is genuinely a CHRISTIAN, knowing the Lord Jesus personally!! I will be praying to that end today............
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