In a world filled with chaos, fear, and uncertainty, lasting peace, hope, and
purpose can seem impossible. Even still, Jesus Christ continues to transform
people
who
hear and understand His message of repentance, forgiveness, and love.
When we are honest with ourselves, our conscience compels us to ask, how can we be
perfect?
Our hearts long for eternity but we also know death is a fearful reality that we must all face at some
point.
Despite our best efforts and good deeds, we know we can’t save ourselves from death. We need someone to save
us.
Jesus stepped out of the glory of heaven over 2000 years
ago, when He was born of a virgin named Mary in Bethlehem. He arrived at just the right time in history to solve
the
problem of
sin and
death for us once for all.
As the fullness of God in human flesh, Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life, taught His followers the way of love and
authenticated
His authority with miracles, the forgiveness of people's
sins, and the fulfilment of prophecy to prove He is the Messiah.
He was not
always well-received though, and Jewish religious
leaders often felt threatened by His power and authority. Led by pride and jealousy, they orchestrated Jesus’ cruel torture and crucifixion
on
the Roman cross. Nevertheless, Jesus willingly laid down His for us, for three days after His death
and burial He rose again to life, proving that He is true, He is God, and and that He has all authority over
life
and death.
Our sins
burden
us with guilt and fear which separate us from our
Creator
who
is holy, righteous, and cannot abide by sin. But because God loves us and wants us to live, He gave His only
begotten Son, Jesus, so that
we can be
saved from the
consequences of our sins which is death.
The blood Jesus shed was the atoning payment for our sins, and His resurrection is proof that it is
finished.
To receive the free gift of Jesus' perfect righteousness, bought with His blood at
the
cross, we must come to Him in faith and true repentance to receive it. Jesus is the only name under heaven by
which we must be
saved. In His own words: "I am the way,
and the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Rejecting Jesus means we are instead following the broad road to death, darkness, and eternal
torment. No amount of religious rules or good deeds can solve the root of our problem which is sin, nd following religious laws only reveals how
and we can never
be truly righteous or perfect on our own.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God in the flesh and the embodiment of love, and He came to
seek and save the lost by fulfilling the law with love. Greater
love
hath no
man
than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Where there is love, there is grace and forgiveness. By renouncing sin and wholeheartedly choosing to follow Jesus, we can not only be reconciled to God in peace and love, we can learn how to love and
be loved by our Creator who cannot lie and wants us to live a full,
abundant life through a real, personal relationship with Him based on respect and love.
His call to repentance and salvation is a prompt to examine ourselves and decide the the life we
want to live— according to the truth, which leads to eternal life, or the way of sin and denial, which leads
to death.
