Fact #1: The world is broken.
Fact #2: There are no perfect people.
All it takes is one look around at the violence and suffering in this world to know that the facts above are irrevocably true. Even the “good” people in our world are far from perfect. If we dwell on it too much, it’s easy to become distraught and despaired. But there is a third fact that is also irrevocably true:
Fact #3: We are not without hope.
The God who created you offers you a hope that extends for eternity and has the power to completely change you and how you respond to the difficulties of this world.
That hope is Jesus Christ. Below is my humble explanation of who Jesus is and why you need Him. If you have questions, send me an email through my contact form. I’ll respond to you as soon as I can.
*All Bible passages are taken from the English Standard Version (ESV), but you can go to Bible.com to read them in any version you wish.
God created a perfect world, so why is it broken?
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth . . .God saw all that He had made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day.” Genesis 1:1, 31
God created a perfect world without blemish, without illness, without death, and without suffering. It was perfect. He even created man in His image because He desired to have a relationship with His creation–with YOU. He created Adam and Eve in his likeness, gave them the freedom to make decisions, and placed them in His garden, the Garden of Eden. It was a beautiful place that provided for their every need. There was just one rule that God told them they must follow:
“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.'” Genesis 2:16, 17
This rule came with a consequence: death—physical, spiritual, and relational. When presented with a choice of whether or not to obey this rule, Adam and Eve followed it until temptation led them to disobey. Just as God promised, their choice to eat of the tree came with a consequence.
In God’s mercy, it did not entail their immediate physical death, but it did break their relationship with Him as they knew it. They could no longer be in His perfect presence, and the world was cursed.
“cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17b-19
But that did not stop God’s love for them. Even before He pronounced His curse on them, He promised that He would send a Savior to redeem them. In the meantime, their disobedience (aka, sin) resulted in their nakedness needing to be covered–just like one day Jesus would cover our disobedience–and God provided garments for them through the first death of an animal.
Because God could not have sin in the presence of His perfect holiness, Adam and Eve were sent away from the garden into a cursed world. The once carefree relationship they’d enjoyed with God had been hindered. God didn’t abandon them, but they no longer could have a face-to-face relationship with Him. And once physical death arrived, so would the full punishment for their disobedience.
That punishment is eternal separation from God, a.k.a hell and spiritual death. Like Adam and Eve, while we are living, we still experience God’s love through His creation and hand in our lives here on earth, even though we all have sinned.
“For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Romans 1:20a
However, a day will come when all will be judged, and those who do not meet His standards will be completely cut off from God and all His “invisible attributes.”
But I’m a good person! Why should I pay for Adam’s and Eve’s sin?
You can be a “good” person by the world’s standards, but to have a personal and eternal relationship with the perfect God, good just isn’t good enough. God is perfect, and His standards for being “good enough” require the same. He’s even outlined His standards for perfection in Exodus 20, what is commonly known as the Ten Commandments. Below is a paraphrased version of them.
- Do not have any gods besides Me.
- Do not make an idol for yourself. (A.k.a put anything else as more important than God, whether it be yourself, money, a hobby, or your life goals.)
- Do not misuse the name of the Lord.
- Remember to keep the sabbath day holy. (The sabbath is a holy day of rest, just as God rested on the seventh day of creating the world.)
- Honor your mother and father.
- Do not murder.
- Do not commit adultery.
- Do not steal.
- Do not give false testimony.
- Do not covet.
Breaking any of them even once, no matter how old you were, means that you are not “good enough.” But you are not alone. In fact, God tells us that no one is perfect. No one can meet these standards, and He uses those standards to show us just how much we cannot save ourselves.
“as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12
So if we can never meet God’s standards, where is our hope?
The good news is that because God knows us and knew us even before He created us, He also created a plan for reconciliation. But like we have chosen to sin, we must choose to accept His plan as the only way to be reconciled with Him.
What is that plan? The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Two thousand years ago in the small town of Bethelem, a virgin delivered Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh. Jesus was and is fully God and fully man. Jesus lived as a human, was tempted like we are, and knows our pains and weaknesses. Yet He knew everything that would happen, had the power to heal, see people’s hearts, and command the angels. He knew exactly what it would cost to reconcile us to Him even before He came to earth through Mary. To provide for that salvation–our reconciliation with God–He had to obey God the Father in keeping all of His righteous commands and living that perfect life that none of us can.
But more than just living the perfect life that we never can, He had to choose to obey the plan that required His death on a cross–just like a criminal, even though He was innocent. Just as the first death of an animal served as a sacrifice to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, Jesus’s sacrificial death serves to cover the sins of all those who choose to turn to Him for their hope.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 6:23
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
But Jesus did not just die. He conquered sin, and thus the consequence of sin (death), by rising from the grave. We’re not talking a zombie here. We’re talking about the living, breathing, eating, thinking, can-touch Him, in-the-flesh Jesus.
“The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” Luke 24: 5b-7
Jesus is STILL alive, in the flesh, living in Heaven at the right hand of God the Father.
“Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” – John 20:26-27
“And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” Luke 24:50-51
Because of all that Jesus did, we can receive the hope He provides to forgive our disobedience (sin) and restore our relationship with God, both here on earth and for eternity in heaven.
How do I receive this hope?
Hope through Jesus Christ is a free gift, and anyone can accept it no matter their past—and I mean absolutely no matter what is in their past. All you have to do is confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord—the Son of God, who lived the perfect life you could not and died in your stead—and that He has risen from the dead.
“because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Romans 10:9-10
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” John 1:12-13
“he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy . . .” Titus 3:5a
This gift is both the easiest and the hardest thing to receive. Easy because all we have to do is confess Jesus as Lord with our mouths and believe He raised from the dead with our hearts. It’s hard because that requires us to surrender our own pride, desire to be in control, and need to earn our own way. It means accepting that we can be saved only through God’s grace and mercy through Jesus Christ. Surrender is hard, but the reward is eternal.
While physical death will still occur until the time God has appointed for judgment of the whole world, accepting Christ as Savior means your spiritual death will never occur, and your relationship with God has been restored. In fact, once you have done so, God has promised to give you the Holy Spirit–His presence–to live and dwell inside of you from here on out.
“In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” – Ephesians 1:13-14
You will NEVER be alone again.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Ephesians 2:4-10 gives the best description of our hope:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
If you are ready to confess that you are a sinner (someone who can never live up to God’s standards) and that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, who you believe in your heart has risen from the dead, all it takes is a conversation with God. That is all prayer is, a conversation with God. Bow your head, look to heaven, lay on the floor–whatever position you need, but just talk to Him and tell Him. Then go tell someone you trust who is a Christian, or email me. From there, God will direct your relationship with Him. You are His child from the moment you confess, and He is a good, good Father. He will never leave nor forsake you.
My prayer for you:
Dear Lord and Heavenly Father,
Thank you for directing this person to this explanation of the hope You have provided through Jesus Christ. I pray that You will fill in the gaps where my explanations have failed and direct them to see Your great and immeasurable love for them. None of us are worthy. None of us deserve this mercy of forgiveness and reconciliation, but I thank You for loving us despite that. I cannot wrap my head around the fact that even at the creation of the world, You knew we would need a savior and that You not only created us, but You set it into place and followed through with a plan to provide that reconciliation.
Thank You, Jesus, for being obedient to the Father, for suffering in my stead, and for forgiving my sin through Your sacrifice. May the person reading this be directed toward the people they need who will help them with their next steps. I rejoice with You that they have accepted Your free gift and are now a part of the family of God. May Your name always be blessed and glorified. Thank You for them, Jesus. I look forward to the day when we all get to praise and glorify Your name together in heaven.
In Jesus’s Name, Amen.