The Gift of Life

For those who don’t understand the life Jesus offers, what does this mean? What is this life? Nicodemus (a learned scholar) asked Jesus the same question in John 3. Jesus had just finished telling him that no one could see heaven until they were born again. This confused Nicodemus. He couldn’t understand how someone could be born again when they were old.  I’m sure he stared at Jesus with confusion written all over his face as he voiced his next question, “How can someone who is old be born again? Can they enter their mother’s womb a second time?” But Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical birth—he was talking about a spiritual birth, A birth we need because we're dying of sin. All of us are dying in the physical sense. We’re all slowly aging and some day we will breathe our last. None of us can escape that reality, but the Bible isn’t talking about our physical death. Instead it is referring to the fate of our souls. 

What does this mean? How are we dying from sin? The Bible says “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).” It also says, “That the wages of sin is death (eternal death), but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23).” Many of us think that we are basically good; that we’ve never done anything bad enough for God to punish us for, but that’s not the case. As soon as we told our very first white lie, disobeyed our parents, or failed to return something we had borrowed our souls were sentenced to everlasting punishment in hell. 

God is a pure and holy God which means he can’t live with sin. There was once a time when men and women were without sin, but they were given free will and they chose to disobey God. In that instant they cursed the human race with a disease called “sin.” From the moment we take our first breath to the moment we take our last we are condemned to the punishment sin has placed upon us—separation from God and an eternity in hell.

But that isn’t the end of the story. God loves us so much that he gave us his only son to come down to earth as a man and die in our place. The amazing wonder of this act still astounds me; that an almighty God loves us enough to die in our place. It wasn’t an easy death either. He was beaten, tortured, and ridiculed. They whipped him (probably with a whip that had glass pieces on the ends), placed long thorns twisted into a crown upon his head, made him carry his own cross through town, nailed him to the very same cross, broke his legs, and shoved a spear through his side. 

Dying on a cross is not a pleasant death. They take 3 inch long nails and pound them through your wrists and feet. Then they hoist you into the air to hang by them. Death isn’t caused by the nails but rather by suffocation. Once you are no longer able to hold yourself up you slowly suffocate. With your arms above your head it is impossible to draw enough air in after a while. I was once told that the pain of having those nails pounded into your wrists would be 10 times worse than hitting your funny bone. 

Can you imagine going through all that pain just to save people who hated you, broken your heart time and time again, turned their backs on you, and worst of all ignored you. And yet he did it. That He would love me this much dumbfounds me. I know I’m not worthy of his love and yet he offers it freely every day. There are no strings attached all I have to do is accept it.

Where we will go when we die is up to each one of us individually. It’s not up to our grandparents, our parents, or our siblings. It is a personal decision each one of us must make on our own. So where will you go—heaven or hell? Without Jesus there is no hope of eternal life in heaven. 

So the question is what must we do to be saved? Acts 16:31 states, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” Jesus is the hope we all need--the One who brings life to our dying souls. Jeremiah 29:12-14 says, “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord.”

Jesus is calling your name today. He is calling you to himself, begging you to notice him and his all-encompassing love and compassion. If you can feel him calling you today and would like to answer, all it takes is for you acknowledging that he is God, that you are a sinner, and that you need his saving grace. Please listen to his call. He loves you so very much and he wants nothing more than to enfold you in his loving arms.

If you accepted him today I beg you to find a fellow Christ-follower and/or church. Choosing to follow him is just the first step. Just as young children need guidance and support so to do we. 

I would love to hear from any of you, whether you made a decision today or not. Maybe you have questions or just need someone to talk to. Either way I’m here to help or listen. If you would like to contact me my e-mail is maijamae@gmail.com. If you send me message please title it “Relentlessly Pursued” so I know it’s from you. I would feel horrible if I accidently deleted a message from someone thinking it was junk mail.

On a closing note I just want to let you know that once we’ve asked Jesus for forgiveness and invited him into our lives all our sins are forgiven and forgotten, but that doesn’t mean the scars from the past are gone. We may still be broken and hurting but Jesus will walk with us through the pain as we begin the healing process. Sometimes he sends people into our lives to walk with us through the pain and sometimes he tells us his grace is sufficient, but either way he won’t leave you alone to walk unaided.