Behind the Process
I am writing this because I believe there are people who will read this that won’t go to church even if somebody invites them. They don’t care to know anything about Jesus or getting saved or anything else which they consider to be faith or even church related.
I had a friend show this to me in a logical way. Don’t get me wrong, I love emotions. But, once the emotions subside you start to question whether the decision you made was just based on ‘the spur of the moment’ or not. If you go on emotions then there are Christians who’ll be happy to follow behind and beat you up with a little guilt to make you more confused. The Devil is a slick one.
There are several things you have to know, understand and believe to be saved, to become a Christian.
The one thing that everything is based upon is summed up in one verse, John 3:16. It says “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but, will have eternal life.”
The only begotten son is Jesus. If you believe this then you can have eternal life. That’s the first step.
Next, you have to recognize where you are ‘at’. Romans
Another really good verse to consider is Romans 6:23. It says that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Being bad doesn’t send you to hell. Being an unrepentant, unbelieving sinner does.
First, it tells you that you will ‘die’ as a result of your sin. In other words, you will ‘die’ in that you won’t be going to heaven. Second it says that this salvation, this eternal life, is a gift.
Salvation is a gift. I can you a gift, but, I can’t give you this gift. You can accept my gift, but, this gift you have to accept from God. Do you think you would like to have this gift? Will you accept this gift? If so, this is the 3rd step.
How do you accept this gift? Romans 10:9 says, If thou shall
confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. Romans
That’s it. Kinda scary that it’s not harder. All you have to do is 1) believe in Jesus, that he is the son of God, 2) recognize that you are a sinner, that your sin will ultimately lead to death and not eternal life, and 3) call upon the name of the Lord and be saved.
Did you know that Revelation 3:20 says, Behold, I stand at
the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come
in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
The question is, Do you ‘hear’ his voice? Do you feel like you are being called? If so, then, you need to respond.
“But, wait, I can’t”, you may say. Why not? You just don’t understand me. I can’t give up my sin. I can’t stop. It just won’t work.
Well, it can. And it will work.
Did you notice anything up above that says you have to stop doing the sins that you are doing in order to be saved? No. Of course, once you are saved you can change. That’s the whole premise. It’s a process. Don’t feel like you have to change immediately and give up all your sins… when you know you can’t do that to begin with.
Let me give an example. Let’s say you like to drink and get drunk. But, you feel like you want to get saved. What do you do? Pray and ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart and save you. Then, be straight up and say, Lord, I can’t stop this drinking. I don’t even have the desire to stop. I like drinking. But, I know that I need to stop.
Here’s how you pray. Lord, give me the desire to stop drinking. Do you know what? It may not happen immediately. It may not happen next week. But, it will happen. If you ask the Lord each day to give you the desire to stop drinking he will give it to you.
So, why not do it? I hope you will.