If you are trying to sort all of this out, we want to help you take a few initial steps of this journey on which God invites all of us.

The story starts with some bad news. We are sinners! You probably already knew that, but it is something that needs to be said. We are sinners; even those who think they have it all together. All of us, from the most important to the least, are sinners. The Bible says it this way, “All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Every one of us has sinned and missed God’s mark for our lives.

The presence of sin in our lives is a real problem. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:2) and this separation leads to death. In fact, the Bible says that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). As sinners, we have earned death. That is what we are owed by God. This means not only physical death, which is a result of sin (Genesis 2:16), but also eternal spiritual death in Hell, which is a place of constant torment (Luke 16:23).

The good news is that God did not leave us in that state. God sent His only Son to die on a cross, taking upon Himself the death we deserved. This is what we mean when we say that Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3). Christ took upon himself the punishment we deserved so that we could be restored to God our Father. Jesus was able to make this payment because He had never sinned. The Bible says it like this, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The story gets even more exciting when we find that Jesus not only died for our sins, but rose again, giving us the promise of eternal life (1 Corinthians 15:4).The response to this great act of love is a simple one. God asks that you place your faith in Jesus. God asks that you stop rationalizing your sin and comparing yourself to others. Stop trying to earn God’s love and accept that He has freely given it.