By Not Known
From a Christian perspective, there is nothing more important than becoming a Christian. Because we love our family, friends, neighbours and colleagues, we want them to become Christians for their own happiness in this life and in eternity. That is why we are having special outreach services today.
What does it mean to become a Christian? To become a Christian is to leave past religious loyalties and put your total trust in Jesus Christ. Christians believe that he is the Son of God and that it is only through him that we can find forgiveness and peace with God. When people begin to trust Jesus like this, it is the start of a whole-of-life change in which we turn around and start living with love and obedience towards God and servant-like love towards other people.
How do people become Christians? Some become Christians after a dramatic conversion experience – like Paul on the road to Damascus. Others have a gradual process of asking questions and coming to Christian activities until, finally, they decide to pray and commit themselves to Jesus. Others don’t really know how or when they became Christian – perhaps one day they just realised that they believed in Jesus. Yet others were born into a Christian family and grew up always trusting in Jesus.
In ORPC we have many different stories of how people became Christians. The details don’t really matter. What does matter is that we have come to believe in Jesus.
Why do people become Christians? People become Christians for all sorts of reasons. Some have a great sense of guilt over some sin and come to Jesus for forgiveness. Others experience the help of Jesus in dealing with some problem in life and then go on to believe. Others are intellectually persuaded of the truth of Christianity and then go on to believe in their hearts. Some just see how Christianity makes sense of life and so follow Jesus.
Again, there are many ways of approaching Jesus and it really doesn’t matter why we come or by what route. What matters is that we do come and that when we come we respond to the Jesus of the Bible in a wholehearted way. We must take him on his terms and not on ours.
May God help us all to see our need of Jesus and to commit ourselves to become his followers through faith, love and obedience.