Discovering Jesus

How close are you and God? If you could assign it a physical distance, would it be measured in inches or miles? The Bible makes it clear that we are all separated from God by a chasm that no man is good enough, strong enough, or smart enough to cross.

God is just, which means He cannot simply overlook evil in this world. What good news! God will punish the evil that we see in this world. Like the person that sees the speck in someone else’s eye, but fails to notice the log in their own, we all tend to downplay our own sinful deeds which God must also punish.

God has perfectly balanced the scale of His love and His justice. Our sins deserve divine judgement and punishment, and Jesus, being sinless, died on the cross and rose from the grave. Jesus came because He loves us. He died to take our penalty. He rose to show that our sin has been conquered.

The Giver of life and the Creator of all things is gracious to His creation. God wants to give each of us perfect and complete forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. To receive this gift, we must understand our need for forgiveness and personally trust in Jesus. We don’t need to clean ourselves up first. We don’t have to try to pay back all the wrong we have done first. We must simply open our hands to receive Christ’s gift, and hold onto it firmly, trusting in everything Christ has promised.

Jesus said He was God. He proved it by His life, His words, His deeds, and His perfect love. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” (Ephesians 2:4–5). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Our sin separates us from God, relationally and eternally, and requires the payment of eternal death (Romans 3:23, 6:23). Yet, because Jesus died for you, God's justice is satisfied, and your sin can be forever forgiven. You can be rescued, pardoned, and accepted into God's grace and love by personally receiving what Jesus did on the cross. “...Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day…” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Here’s how Jesus said it: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life…” (John 3:36). “...I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). An eternal home in Heaven and a personal relationship with God can only be received, never achieved. You can't save yourself, but you can receive salvation as an unspeakable gift from God Himself. He loves you that much!

Knowing you have a relationship with God and a home in Heaven isn’t about being good or religious. It’s about trust—faith. Everyone is trusting something as an "ultimate thing." The message of the Bible is that Jesus is the only source of ultimate and eternal hope—forgiveness and pardon from sin, acceptance and adoption into God's family, and the promise of eternal life in Heaven. It happens the moment you call out to Jesus and ask Him to be your Saviour. In that moment, He will forgive your sin and give you His gift of eternal life. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).