What do you think makes a person a Christian or acceptable to God?
Is it someone who goes to church regularly? Is it someone who lives in a Christian country? Is it a person who is basically good, abides by the law of the land, helps other people, has good morals and tries not to hurt people or animals?
Would it shock you if I stated that none of the above makes a person a Christian?
There are many misconceptions in society about what it means to be a Christian.
Many think that what I listed above would qualify a person as good enough to be termed a Christian or to be acceptable to God. But that is not true.
Attending church does not make anyone a Christian just like going to a garage makes you a car. Being a good person also doesn’t make you a Christian or acceptable to God.
So how can anyone be a Christian and acceptable to God?
The basic answer is -by accepting what God has done on our behalf.
Let me explain…God is just and holy and hates sin and evil. Everyone is born with a nature tendency to do wrong. People don’t like to be told that but it is true. Little toddlers say “no” to their parents very easily, in fact it is normally the first word they speak.
God chose the nation of Israel (the descendants of Abraham, through Isaac and Jacob) to be his spokesperson to the other nations on what He is like. He gave them teachings on how to live well (found in the torah – first 5 books of the Bible) and a system of blood sacrifices to atone for their sins. But this wasn’t a permanent solution to the problem of our natural tendency to do wrong. They had to continue to bring blood sacrifices every year. Why is this a problem?
Well, we can’t have a relationship with God when He is so holy and pure and we are full of sin. There is a life after death – either one with God or one without. You can’t enter heaven (life with God after your physical body dies) without having this sin problem dealt with. Saying that you don’ t have a sin problem doesn’t take away the fact that every human being born has a sin problem. We can’t deal with the sin problem by going to church or being a good person. There has to be a blood sacrifice and that is what God has done on our behalf.
He came to earth as the man Jesus Christ – who was fully human and fully God. His purpose was to be the sacrifice. But not only to be the sacrifice on a Roman cross but to also beat death and evil by coming back to life 3 days later. It is called the Resurrection.
So when a person accepts that they need their sin problem to be dealt with (their natural tendency to do wrong) and they accept God’s solution to it- which is to believe that – Jesus Christ was and is the son of God; that He was the blood sacrifice for their sins and that He was resurrected – they become a follower of Christ or a Christian. I like to term it as a believer rather than a Christian. There is actually something physical which happens at this point. The sin tendency (called the sin nature) dies and God gives them a new tendency (new nature) which is able to communicate with Him.
People’s lives have been transformed after they have come to God and accepted His solution. People who were filled with worry become filled with a deep sense of peace. They have an assurance for their future – in this life and after they die.
This is different to any other religion on earth. All other religious leaders are still dead. All other religions have some sort of list of things that their converts have to do to be accepted. Take Jehovah Witness’ , they believe that to be accepted by God you have to lead a moral life, go to church, “adhere strictly to the precepts established by the first Christians” and “be zealous in evangelizing work” (taken from their website).
So, after reading this you will either say it is a load of rubbish or you will be wondering whether there is any truth to it. How can you know for sure? I suggest that you keep searching for the truth about God and what happens after your physical body dies. Here are some good websites that can help in your search for the truth:
Rachel Larkin 