Congratulations! By reading this article, it shows that you have interest in becoming a Christian, or at least understanding the commitment process of living for Christ.
First of all, you need to know that everybody has sinned. What does that mean, exactly? It means that we are all corruptible, and it doesn't matter how much we may try to do good, we just can never be as good as we are supposed to be, because there isn't a single person on this planet living today who can say "I haven't done anything wrong in my entire life" and have it be true. It doesn't matter if you go to church on Sunday. It doesn't matter if you read the Bible every day. It doesn't even matter if you say your prayers at night! The truth is, there is nothing that we can do ourselves that can save us from a fate that is so terrible, we don't even want to think about it. We just can't save ourselves from going to Hell.
Sounds pretty bad, right? Hold on! There's good news!
Even though you can't save yourself, the good news is that work has already been done for you. God made a promise to Adam that he would sacrifice himself in order to save his soul, and the souls of all his descendants (this is mentioned in the Book of Adam, one of the Apocryphal books - it lines up pretty well with what is written in the book of Genesis). He came down as Jesus Christ, who not only was the Son of God, but he was God in the flesh (God is his own Son -sounds weird, but it's true!). He was killed on a cross so that he would break the bondage of Hell and thus automatically forgive us for our sins.
"Wait, we're already forgiven? Awesome! That means I can do whatever bad stuff I want!" Wait, is that the kind of life you really want to live?
If we are still sinning without remorse for our actions, then we can not be truly saved. God wants to be friends with you, but how can he if you're still disobedient to his Word? Think about it: you want to be friends with someone you think is really great, but if you're constantly doing stuff he doesn't like, then how can you two be friends? The point of living for Christ is to build a relationship with Christ. If we truly love God and want to live by his word, we need to think about what God wants us to do and not just what we want.
Sooo... what DOES God want us to do?
First of all, you need to know that everybody has sinned. What does that mean, exactly? It means that we are all corruptible, and it doesn't matter how much we may try to do good, we just can never be as good as we are supposed to be, because there isn't a single person on this planet living today who can say "I haven't done anything wrong in my entire life" and have it be true. It doesn't matter if you go to church on Sunday. It doesn't matter if you read the Bible every day. It doesn't even matter if you say your prayers at night! The truth is, there is nothing that we can do ourselves that can save us from a fate that is so terrible, we don't even want to think about it. We just can't save ourselves from going to Hell.
Sounds pretty bad, right? Hold on! There's good news!
Even though you can't save yourself, the good news is that work has already been done for you. God made a promise to Adam that he would sacrifice himself in order to save his soul, and the souls of all his descendants (this is mentioned in the Book of Adam, one of the Apocryphal books - it lines up pretty well with what is written in the book of Genesis). He came down as Jesus Christ, who not only was the Son of God, but he was God in the flesh (God is his own Son -sounds weird, but it's true!). He was killed on a cross so that he would break the bondage of Hell and thus automatically forgive us for our sins.
"Wait, we're already forgiven? Awesome! That means I can do whatever bad stuff I want!" Wait, is that the kind of life you really want to live?
If we are still sinning without remorse for our actions, then we can not be truly saved. God wants to be friends with you, but how can he if you're still disobedient to his Word? Think about it: you want to be friends with someone you think is really great, but if you're constantly doing stuff he doesn't like, then how can you two be friends? The point of living for Christ is to build a relationship with Christ. If we truly love God and want to live by his word, we need to think about what God wants us to do and not just what we want.
Sooo... what DOES God want us to do?
- First, we need to accept the gift of Grace that God has given us. We don't have to pray long-winded prayers in order to do this; just say with all sincerity "God, I trust in you. I believe you came to save me, and I want you in my life." Once you've done that, you may say, "Okay, nothing's happened. Did it work?" Yes, but there's more to it than that!
- Pray without ceasing. Pray whenever, wherever! Nothing is too small for God; He cares about every little thing that you do. Pray about relationships. Pray about mom and dad. Pray about reaching the next level in your video game!
- Don't be disappointed if you don't get the answer you expected. Often times, people pray for something, and then when they don't get it, they think that God doesn't care. Our goal is to work with God to fulfill his purpose in our lives, not just pray for stuff like he's some sort of genie. If you don't get the answer you wanted, just trust God knows what he's doing. That brings us to the next point...
- Life is hard, always, but God is good always! People die. Homes get destroyed. Bad stuff happens because we live in an evil world run by Satan and his demonic forces. This is the result of our sins, not because God is punishing us. Don't you feel bad whenever you hurt a friend, or you do something that your friend doesn't want you to do and they find out? God is the same way, but unlike people who may abandon us when we hurt them, God NEVER abandons us. We may be unfaithful, but God is ALWAYS faithful. Don't be afraid to let your feelings show when you pray to God about something that bothers you; even in your darkest hour he will help you work through it.
- Remember that the Word is God's way of speaking to people. The Word isn't just the Bible, it's God's way of communicating to us to tell us something important. It's pretty hard to explain in writing - just know that when God speaks to you, you'll know it's his Word. The Word will reach out to you when you need it most, even if you don't think you do, so when God talks, listen!
