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I wrote this many years ago during my days in seminary. I find the language of this article still holds up. Feel free to use this text, share the article, etc. with people you know who might be asking these questions. - Pastor Scott
A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ (John 10:27-28). In order to be one, you need to have devoted yourself to following Him by living the way He taught people to live.
The beginning of becoming a Christian is called salvation. God initiates an invitation to you to become a follower of Jesus. When you accept His invitation, God saves you.
The big question, of course, is “Save me from what?”
The answer is spiritual death or eternity separated from Him.
First, you have to recognize that in addition to being a physical being, you are also a spiritual being. Among other things, your spirit is the part of you that will live forever, long after your body dies.
“Wait, I thought you just said that I was being saved from spiritual death?” That is true; spiritual death is not the end of your existence. It is a permanent separation from God that will come to those who have rejected His invitation. Often, this is called hell. Whatever it is, the Bible has nothing good to say about it.
Why would God allow anyone to be separated from Him if He loves all people?
The answer has to do with the biblical creation story. Adam and Eve did something that God told them not to do; they ate fruit from a tree that God told them not to do or they would die. For doing so, God had to enact punishment:
All humanity became “cursed” (unable to make things right with God on their own).
All humanity became “mortal” (their physical bodies would die).
The penalty of sin is death (Romans 6:23). All have sinned (Romans 3:23) and as such are unfit to live forever with God.
The penalty is ultimately paid with your spiritual death. One person = one penalty. But that was never God’s plan; His plan was that all people would come to know Him and spend forever with Him. So, He needed a plan to fix the curse.
So, God became a human being (John 1:1, 2, 14). His name is Jesus Christ. Because God has never sinned and never will, if that person were to die, He would be able to pay the penalty for everyone else.
But salvation is a gift; it isn’t automatic for all people. They must accept the gift. Remember, God wants you to want Him. No one will be made to live with God against their will.
Acceptance of that gift is called salvation. It is formalized with your declaration before others that you are associated with Jesus Christ.
Finally, as a follower of Jesus, you have only two commands to live by:
- Love God,
- Love Others.
In fact, the Bible has much instruction about how to live like Jesus wants us to, but all those instructions fall under these two basic commandments.
If you wish to learn more about how to become a follower of Jesus, feel free to email me at scott@kingofkingsfellowship.com.