Note from Eric:  If you’ve never made a leap of faith and put your faith in Christ, here’s some encouragement to help you do it.

The good news, or gospel, of Jesus Christ is really only good news if you understand the bad news first.

You see, Jesus was the man, and you are his beloved.  He saw what the future held for each of us.  He saw that we were all headed down a road that would eventually lead us to death.  He knew this would happen because he knew that each of us had sinned, and that the penalty for sin was death.

It isn’t a surprise to most of us that we’ve sinned.  A sin is anything we do, or anything we say – or even anything we think – that God doesn’t want us to do or say or think.  So it’s no surprise that the Bible says,

“All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Unfortunately, the penalty for sin is pretty strong.  The Bible says that the penalty for sin is death.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

This is a terrible dilemma for us and for God. God loves us and doesn’t want to harm us in any way, but he is a just God and must punish sin.

The good news is that God made a way to solve this dilemma.  He made a way for us to escape the penalty of death, and to give us a chance to live an abundant life.  He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to take the penalty of death in our place, so we could be free. The Bible says,

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

While God makes this free gift of eternal life available to everyone, we must reach out, by faith, to receive it.  This is the leap of faith.  The Bible tells us exactly how to do this:

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

God has promised that everyone who does this will be saved.  The Bible says,

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

If you’ve never known what it feels like to have someone love you so much that they would give up their life for you, you can know that today.  If you’ve been hurt and need someone to bind up your wounds, you can have that today.  If you need forgiveness and you realize that there’s nothing you can do to make up for what you’ve done, you can receive that forgiveness today.

This is the gospel (which means “good news”) of Jesus Christ.  This is what makes Christianity different than any other religion in the world.  Many religions try to point you to God.  But Jesus Christ is the only one who died for you to bring you to God himself.  One day he will come back for each of us who puts our faith in him now.

Jesus said,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.   In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

If this is what you want, to be forgiven of your sins, to be healed of your hurts, and to know the love of God, you can ask God for it right now, wherever you are.

“Dear Lord, I’m sorry for the sins I’ve committed against you and against others.   Thank you for sending Jesus to die for me to pay the price for my sins.   Please forgive me.  I want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life from now on.  I ask that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit so that I can follow you with my whole heart.   I want to say with my mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and I believe in my heart that You raised him from the dead.  Thank you for your promise that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

If you’ve just made this leap of faith, you’ve begun an adventure that will never end.  You’ve crossed over from death to life, from despair to hope, from condemnation to forgiveness.  And you have a friend in Jesus who will love you forever – he will never leave you.

If you weren’t ready yet to make this decision, I’d like you to bookmark this page so you can visit here again.  Send me a note with your questions, fears, doubts or concerns.   There’s nothing I’d love more than to talk with you about this decision.

Unfortunately for us, we don’t know how much time we have left.  Not only is the time of our death uncertain, but God has already told us ahead of time that this world will one day be destroyed in a great fire.  We don’t know when that day will come.  But just like all of the other promises in the Bible that have come true, this one will come true as well.

Jesus said the end will come when we least expect it, like a thief in the night.   So I urge you to take this decision seriously, and make a leap of faith before it’s too late.  Jesus said,

“Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from'” (Luke 13:25).

I’d encourage you to reread this page again before you leave, and ask God to give you the faith to make the leap.

In the end, the great thing about this love story is that you get to choose your own ending. I hope you’ll choose the one that leads to life abundant, here in this world and in the world to come.

If you’ve prayed today to invite Christ into your life, we’d like to know! Just go to A Quiet Place To Pray and send us a comment at the bottom of the page.