Are you almost a Christian?
“Now hold on just a minute! How can someone be almost a Christian?”
A good friend once told me he was “almost a Christian.” He attended church regularly. He sang in the choir. He took Communion. He tried to be a good husband and father.
But the day came when he realized those things didn’t make him a Christian.
His new perspective came when we looked at the Bible together. He saw, for the first time, how the Bible says a person becomes a Christian. In its pages he met Jesus and followed him.
The scripture we read was in the New Testament book of Romans, chapter 3, verse 23. It says, “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
For the first time my friend understood that sin pays a wage. We deserve it. Just like getting paid for work. And the wages for sin, God says, is death. Eternal separation from God.
Then he saw that God wanted to give him a gift, something he didn’t deserve or work for. That gift was the opposite of death. Life. Life that begins now and extends into eternity.
Next we looked at a scripture that specifically tells how to be saved from the penalty of sin. It says, “If you will confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
The Bible adds, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame’” (Romans 10:9, 10).
My friend suddenly realized it wasn’t religion, a church or going to a church that saved his soul. Instead it was a one-to-one, heart-to-heart faith relationship with Christ. He saw that he could receive eternal life by trusting personally in Jesus’ death on the cross in our place.
What I love about the Gospel, the good news of Christ, is that it’s uncomplicated and so simple. Jesus took care of our sin problem. Now the only decision to make is “What will you do with Jesus Christ?” All it takes is simple faith, a child-like trust in him. Because Jesus saves us.
But not everyone hears the good news about Christ and believes in him. A man in the Bible, King Agrippa, said he was almost persuaded to be a Christian. Almost a Christian.
God doesn’t force faith on anyone but he extends an invitation to everyone. Jesus said, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”
Many people in churches today are ‘Almost’ Christians. Another man put it this way. He said, “I knew my catechism, but I didn’t know the person of Christ.”
The same could be said for many churchgoers. They know about the Bible, its doctrines and what they should believe. They know about Jesus but don’t know him personally. They’re living on someone else’s faith and beliefs. They’re “almost a Christian.”
Like Jesus’ disciple, Thomas, we all need to come to Christ and say, “My Lord and my God!”
What will you do with Jesus? Will you believe what the Bible says about him? It says, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” and “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Perhaps up until now you’ve been “almost a Christian.” That can change today.
The Bible says, “To all who received him [Jesus], to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” By faith you can move from ‘almost’ to “I am a Christian.”
1 comment:
Jesus is Lord, both my grandchildren say this, I am so Happy they have him in there lives, He is in mine and my heart, Love, Cuz Sharon
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