“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)
I have some good news for you. God is good and patient with people. It is precisely that goodness that helps us to see our need to turn to Him and receive the good news he has for us. But before I tell you the extent of that good news, I have to tell you the bad news, which will make the good all the better.
“…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23)
The bad news is that we have all offended God. We are what the Bible describes as “sinners.” This is a term borrowed from ancient archery meaning, “to miss the mark.” If the “bullseye” is the glory of God, then our works have not only missed the center, but we also missed the target. In simpler terms: we fell way short of God’s glory, therefore, we have brought disgrace to His name and disregarded His goodness. This is what it means to be a sinner.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
This is where we get back to the good news. In His forbearance and longsuffering, God demonstrates to the world how greatly He loves us, despite who we were. That’s the goodness of God on display. It is this goodness—His goodness in light of such darkness—that leads us to repentance.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
When we work, we get a paycheck. As human beings, we are really good at sinning and therefore earned what we deserve; the wage of sin was, and will always be, death. We earned it. We own it. We tried to do good works to obtain the gift. The problem is, working for a gift makes it a wage, not a gift. That is where we get it wrong so often. When we stop trying to earn the gift and just receive it, we get eternal life in Christ Jesus. This process is known as repentance. It is being sorry for, and turning away from, our sin and turning toward Christ Jesus who gives such a great gift!
The gift came free to you and me, but at a great cost the Father. He sent His one and only Son to die on a cross so that our sin could be forgiven. It was painfully agonizing to go through. But the Son, Jesus, arose on the third day and lives forever. If we know this to be true and we decide we want to follow Him from this day forward, He will save us.
If you want to receive the gift today, please say this prayer or something similar:
Lord Jesus, I stand before you not deserving anything you have for me. I have offended you and earned the wage of death. But you have come that I might have eternal life. I confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that He rose from the dead. I give you my life and receive the gift of eternal life that you have for me and turn from my sin. Be the Lord of my life. I will follow You from this day forward. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I might have Your help to live a godly life. Thank you for all that you have done. In the name of Jesus, Amen!
Let us know about your decision to receive Christ or if you would like more information about a relationship with Jesus.