I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He is the Way the Truth and the Life. However, simply believing in God is not enough. Being a good person is not enough. Nor is going to church, being baptized or taking communion enough in and of itself; although all of those things are done by Christians. The only way we can be saved is through faith, following the Word of God and dedicating our life to God after accepting Jesus Christ into our life. Being a follower of Jesus Christ means one must have a personal relationship with Jesus, by accepting Him as their personal Lord and Savior.
By God’s grace we receive salvation through faith in Christ alone. Our salvation is based on a relationship with the One True God. Though we may have a relationship with God in spite of our incomplete knowledge of Him, it is importance that we put our faith in the One True God.
There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is the Creator of all that is seen and unseen. He created us in His image and He has destined great things in our lives because He loves us so much! He, the God who created all things, took on flesh and walked the earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Son of God and is one with God. In John 10:30 Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” The only way for us to be reconciled to God is through a relationship with His son Jesus Christ. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit and was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary , Jesus died on the cross so we could be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins, was buried, rose again from the dead, ascended back to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, and will one day return to this earth again. He did all this for each of us if any person will repent of his or her sins, and will confess Jesus is the Lord and believe in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, they will be saved as promised in John 3:16.
The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17… “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things become new”. This means once a person accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior, truly accepting Him into our lives, all our sins from the based are gone, we are free and have hope for a new and bright future with Jesus in our heart. The Bible tells us that we must be born again. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3 The spiritual life that we as Christians receive is the divine life of Jesus Christ. Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 We must accept Jesus into our hearts, repenting of our sins.
Every person who receives Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian is assured of Christ’s spiritual presence and His promise: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20
Matthew 22:37-38 tells us that we are to first love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. In 1 Corinthians 11:1, Paul says, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.” Ephesians 5:1 says, “Be imitators of God as dear children.” We must live our lives and imitate Christ in all we do, say and are.
Salvation is in Jesus alone. It is being saved from the gilt and punishment of sin. By being sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we were born into sin. Through Jesus, those sins are washed away by the blood He shed on the cross. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
Every person who receives Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian is assured of Christ’s spiritual presence and His promise: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20
When you profess you are a Christian, you are telling the world you claim the name of Jesus as your Lord and you follow Him. When you claim yourself as a Christian, you are an Ambassador of God – you are a representation of God and all Christians. When we profess ourselves as Christians, we must expect the world to hold us to a higher set of standards in our lives, and we should hold ourselves to a higher set of standards. When you claim the name of Christ then you must “walk the walk”. Not just on Sundays or at good times, but twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week for the rest of your life. As a follower of Christ, we should want to live our lives in a way that would be pleasing to God at all times.
Living the Christian life is not comprised of going through the motions of repetitive religious rituals. Being and behaving as a Christian is enabled and empowered by the grace of God in the dynamic of the life of Jesus Christ in the Christian. In His departing promise, Jesus explained, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Acts 1:8). “God’s grace is given according to the working of His power” (Eph. 3:7). Therefore, being a Christian, our primary responsibility as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to proclaim the gospel and to bring the good news of eternal life to others, not just in our words, but also in our actions. The cost of being a Christian is not about words, but about deeds – it is about helping others who need you. The bottom line is it is about loving everyone we encounter.
God commands us to love one another as He loves us. Part of loving other is forgiveness. We are commanded to forgive each other, just as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us. God is a forgiving God who never refuses forgiveness. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are completely forgiven, for anything and everything. Daniel 9:9 tells us: “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving…” Ephesians 4:32 tells us “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We are not just commanded to forgive those who wrong us, but Luke 6:27 tells us we Love our enemies. God expects us to forgive others just as he has forgiven us. Failing to forgive another person is something that can hold one back from escaping our relationship with God. We need to forgive in order to be forgiven. Forgiveness offers us a path to peace. We must forgive and love others unconditionally who have wronged us.
John 1:12 tells us, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” The mark of a true Christian is love for others and obedience to God’s Word. A true Christian is indeed a child of God, a part of God’s true family, and one who has been given new life in Jesus Christ.
The bottom line is it isn’t about you, it isn’t about me; it’s about loving other people.
Copyright © Jason Doll Ministries
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