Here’s the deal: we’d like to think our good deeds count for something, or that we’re “good enough” that God wouldn’t punish us. But it doesn’t work that way — all of us have sinned (that means, we’ve done something God told us is wrong): we’ve lied, cheated, lusted, failed to love or help someone when we ought to, we’ve even had wrong thoughts fly through our head. All of this is wrong, and it means we are sinners.

Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

And there is a hefty price to be paid for violating God’s standards, because He is perfect! We all die physically, but after death we are on track to hell — eternal punishment in a fire-riddled abyss of eternal torture; it’s a place I, and certainly God, wants no one to go to.

Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Maybe you’re thinking punishment for simply lusting or thinking wrongly is a little stringent…that’s because any kind of sin is horribly offensive to God, who is the very definition of good. I like how the movie Courageous puts it:

Say someone close to you — perhaps one of your parents — is brutally attacked and killed. The murderer is taken to trial and pleads not guilty, on this reasoning: that other than the murder, he had been perfect — he was extremely charitable, loved to help others, never lied or was dishonest, etc. He tries to make the point that, even though he has done something horrible, he shouldn’t be punished for it because he did so much good. Does justice rest on a good vs. evil scale? If the judge of the case let the murderer go without punishment, we would decry him for not serving justice, because justice punishes for what you’ve done wrong regardless of prior “goodness.”

It’s the same way for us: we have all done wrong, and because God is a good judge, He is forced to give us the punishment we deserve: eternity in hell. But our God is a loving and merciful God! He wanted to give us a way out of our sobering destination, but He had to do it without denying His just nature.

The Bible tells us this predicament in a parable (an allegory that teaches a spiritual lesson): in our sin, we are debtors who can in no way repay the huge debt against us. So God arranged a plan: His Son offers to pay that debt for us, which only He can pay because He lived a perfect life — He paid a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay!

Who is this Christ? Maybe you’ve just heard He was a good guy who taught us good things — but it’s a whole lot more than that, thank God! God sent His Son (Jesus), who is one with God (they are the same “person”) to become like us and do the one thing we can’t do: live a perfect life. That’s what John 3:16 talks about:

“For God so loved the world [you and me] that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whoever would believe on Him should not perish [in everlasting punishment], but have everlasting life!”

This is a great promise to us — we who were on track to eternal punishment can instead be heading towards Heaven, a place were evil cannot come and everything we love here on earth is untainted by suffering, pain, and death. It’s a place we can’t earn — we’ve miffed it on our own; but God offers us this priceless gift of mercy!

Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!”

When Jesus came to earth to share our humanity and weaknesses, He lived a perfect life (something no man can do!) and offered it up freely as a ransom to take our place. So Christ was crucified (at that time, the most infamous method of execution known to man — it was a criminal’s death) and died to “save us from our sins.” But the story doesn’t end there: if He just died, we’d still not be able to avoid hell, because Christ had to live to rescue us! So after three days in a tomb, He was resurrected from death! In the same way, because He rose from death into life, we also have this promise: that at the appointed time, we will rise from mere physical death into eternal life!

Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

How do we get it? The Bible teaches that this gift of rescue from eternal death, which we call Salvation, is available to everyone who will accept it — from the college student who’s made a few mistakes to the serial killer. To accept it, we have to repent (that means, we turn away from our old lifestyle of sin), ask for God’s forgiveness, and ask Christ to come live in us (His nature will live in us so we won’t be subject to the inclinations of our sinful bodies).

Romans 5:1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

You can do this in prayer, which is simply talking with God — something like this: “God, I know I’m a sinner and deserve eternal punishment because you are just. But I thank you for sending Jesus to take my place for the punishment I deserve. I’m sorry for the wrong I’ve done; I accept your gift of salvation and place my faith (that means belief and trust) in you. Come into my life and help me to live like Christ.”

Romans 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Christianity isn’t a set of religious rules — before Christ, that’s all we had, which is why we as sinners had no hope of rescue. Rather, it’s about having relationship with God and His love and mercy, which we can’t earn or be “good enough” to get.

If you have questions holding you back, or just about anything at all — please ask me! I’m sharing what God gave me because I do not want anyone to not know the Life that God gives, and I certainly don’t want anyone to go to eternal punishment when Jesus offers us this wonderful gift! Ask anything: in relation to why Christ is the only way, why He had to die, or even in light of historical accuracy/science/etc. Being a Christian changes everything, and I find the longer I’m a Christian, the more life in general “makes sense.”