Would you rather live or die?

Most of us would answer “I would rather live!” However we all know that all of us will have to die at some point. But what if you could live eternally? Actually you can! If you’d like to find out how, keep reading!

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

God doesn’t need anyone or anything, however out of love, He created the world and everything in it. He created man in His own image as male and female to have a relationship with Him. He’s not only the Creator, but also the Upholder of the Universe, and nothing happens without His foreknowledge and approval. He knows you personally and He never takes His eyes off of you. Isn’t it wonderful to know that God wants you?

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)

God gave Adam and Eve freedom to obey His command but also freedom to disobey. When tempted by the devil, they chose to believe the devil’s lie and their disobedience (called sin) resulted in death to enter the world. Our relationship with God has been broken ever since, and you should know that you are wanted by Satan too for his own purposes, which ultimately lead to eternal death. Spending eternity in Hell, suffering unimaginable horrors, permanently separated from God is a scary thought….

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Psalm 51:5)

We are all descendants of Adam and Eve and thus we are naturally sinful, rejecting God and rebelling against His perfect law (the Ten Commandments). If you think you are a good person, you should think again. You may be considered good by human standards, but because He is Holy, God demands absolute moral perfection for anyone to enter Heaven and live there eternally after their biological death. So by his or her own effort, no one can be saved (none of us seeks God naturally as we are all alienated from Him by sin. Until we realize that we are sinners in need of a Saviour, we won’t repent and won’t ask for forgiveness. God gave us the Ten Commandments so that we realize that we have violated all of them and we can’t be justified by our own effort.) All of us are sinners, (or you could say “lawbreakers, wanted dead or alive”), but there is Good News!

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

God sent Christ, His Son from Heaven to Earth to pay the penalty for our sin. God is righteous and He won’t let sin go unpunished. The “wages” of sin is death and Jesus, the perfect God and perfect, sinless man paid the ultimate price dying on the cross so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). He bore our sins and God, the Father accepted His sacrifice so that all who believe in Him, will be counted righteous and will not get the “death sentence”, but will live forever, forgiven. Christ rose from the grave and so shall everyone be raised to everlasting life whoever believes in Him. Everyone else will be judged by God when they die and will be found guilty. Unfortunately at that point it will be too late to repent and judgement will be inevitable. We never know when we die, it can happen today so don’t delay!

Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19)

Once you realize you are a sinner, and that God loves you and seeks you to be saved for everlasting life, you will be deeply sorry for your sins and will repent. This means that you never want to sin again and will want to belong to Christ, your Saviour. Repent, ask for God’s forgiveness, believe in Christ so you will be justified, declared innocent by God. While all your sins will be forgiven (past, present and future), sin will remain in your life until your biological death. But God will continue to keep changing you by His grace into the image of His Son (process of sanctification) and will enable you by His grace to resist temptation. You will be increasingly aware of your sin and will hate sin passionately, repenting and genuinely resolving to never sin again. Jesus is your only hope and this hope is certain because God is faithful and He will complete the work that he started in you. Have faith in Christ and choose life!

Are you ready to be saved?

If you are ready to be saved for eternal life, reach out to God in prayer now and ask Him to forgive your sins. Tell Him that you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the dead. Thank Him wholeheartedly that He sought you and reached out to save you. Ask Him to cleanse you from your sin and to make you a new creation, as a member of God’s Family. Thank Him for His wonderful love and ask Him to continue leading you by His Holy Spirit from this day on. Below is a prayer you can pray (Please understand that “saying” this prayer will not save you. Remember that God knows you and all your thoughts. If you truly want to be saved, Jesus will save you and this prayer helps you express that you would like to be saved):

Lord God, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe that Your Son, Jesus died for my sins and rose from the dead. Thank you for caring about me and that in Your Love You reached out to save me! Please help me to turn from my sins, make me a new person, I want to belong to You and worship You forever! I want to follow You wherever You lead me. Thank You Lord, my God. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.