God’s Purpose: A Relationship with Him and Eternal Life
You are alive for a reason. God created you and loves you and has a wonderful purpose for your life. God wants you to enjoy a relationship with him and to have abundant and eternal life.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
But why is it that most people don’t experience a relationship with God or this abundant life? Here’s the problem:
The Problem: Our Sin
All of us have this inborn desire to be the boss of our own lives and to ignore God’s right to tell us what to do. We want to call the shots and control our own lives, and the Bible call’s this attitude sin. Sin separates us from God and breaks that relationship with him.
“Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2)
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
Some people think that as long as their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds that they can gain God’s approval and get a ticket to heaven. But, the problem is that heaven is a perfect place where God lives and only those who measure up to God’s standard of perfection get in. The thing is, no one is perfect and all of us have sinned. Therefore, none of us can get there on our own. The good news is that God has provided a way for his perfect standards to be met and for us to be restored to a relationship with God.
God’s Solution: Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. He was the sinless Son of God. And Jesus said:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
Jesus didn’t say that he teaches the way or that he points to the way, but that he is the way. History records how Jesus died on the Cross and three days later the tomb was empty because he rose from the grave.
According to the Bible, his death was part of God’s plan to fix our relationship with God by paying the penalty for our sins.
The Bible says…
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
When Jesus died, he paid the penalty for our sins and made a way possible for the righteous (perfect) standards of God to be met in us through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
The Bible says…
“For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.” (1 Peter 3:18)
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
The death and resurrection of Jesus makes it possible for the perfect life of Christ to be credited to us and our sins to be removed. But this doesn’t happen automatically. We must make a choice.
Our Choice: Receive Christ as Savior and Lord
There are four things you need to do to enter into a relationship with God and receive eternal life:
- Admit that God hasn’t been first place in your life and that you are a sinner who needs forgiveness.
- “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)
- Be willing to stop doing what is wrong and start doing what is right. (repentance)
- Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave.
- Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to become the boss (Lord) of your life.
The Bible says…
“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)
Here is a prayer you can pray to receive Christ into your life:
“Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins. I want to turn away from my sins. I now invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
If you prayed this prayer,
The Bible says…
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9)
“He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:12-13)
