About two thousand years ago, a man named Jesus Christ walked the earth, was crucified, and died at pretty young age.
But then, Jesus did the most amazing thing in the history of the world. He brought himself back to life, and ascended to the throne of heaven.
This may be very hard to believe.
But understanding its significance, whether you believe it or not, is pretty critical.
This is because the relationship between God and Man has been forever altered. The way that it stands now, for everyone, is this: if you believe in Jesus Christ, you will be given everlasting life. The default is that you live for some time, and then you ultimately die. It doesn't matter if you live a good life or a bad one. There is no middle ground, and it doesn't matter whether you live with the best of intentions. The choice is ours, whether to believe in Christ.
When I was a senior in highschool, I faced this choice for the first time, but I felt trapped. This was because I was really afraid of death, afraid of not existing at all. My thinking was like this: belief in God and Jesus Christ needed to be sincere; but the ONLY reason for me believing was that I was afraid of death, not that I truly believed in Jesus Christ.
Thus: if God was real, and I accepted Jesus, then God would reject me because He would know that I didn't really believe, but instead was just afraid of dying. And, if God wasn't real, and I accepted Jesus, I was doomed anyway, because God wasn't real. Either way, I thought I was doomed.
After almost 14 months of college, feeling hopeless, a Christian friend of mine told me this: "David, the trap that you are in is of your own making, not of God's. You have to transform your mind's thinking. See what God has done for you. Feel the love of Jesus Christ. You have to change your world view."
The trap was real. But the solution was a real one also. God's love was really out there, but I couldn't see it until I stopped rejecting the truth. So, I decided to give it a try. I went to this church near Boston, only on Sundays. I went each time with a specific question in mind, hoping to get answers. The very first Sunday I went with this question, "If God is real, then why doesn't he just give us sign?" The sermon that week was on Matthew 12:38-45, which is Jesus's reply to the demands by the Pharisees to see a miraculous sign. Week after week, I brought questions, and week after week, the questions were answered.
One week, after a few months, I became very sick. I had to go to the hospital, and for some reason my blood pressure was unbelievably high. The pain in my head was so bad I couldn't stand or open my eyes. The doctors thought that I had a blood clot in my brain, so they gave me all sorts of drugs, the combination of which made me stay awake all night alone in that hospital room. Earlier in the week, I had lost my job, flunked at least one test, fought with my roommates and my parents, broke up with my girlfriend, and was flat broke. If there ever was a low point in my life, that was it. I did not feel like going to church, but I did anyway, but this time I forgot to bring a question. The sermon that Sunday, February 14th 1993, was "What Christians do in a Crisis." The church was St. John's Church in Lexington, MA. That day, on Valentine's Day, I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior.
Of course, my life has not been all rosy and peachy since that time. In fact, there have been just as many ups and downs after I became Christian. But with the fundamental change in my life, comes the freedom and the joy that comes from getting to know Christ. If would like to ask any questions or have comments, you can email me back on the home page.
Peace.