It's So Easy To Become a Christian

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast."  -Ephesians 2: 8-9

The famous preacher Billy Graham once said, "It is so easy to receive Christ that millions stumble over its sheer simplicity."  He could not have been more right.  Many people see Christianity as an exclusive group of people and in order to be apart of it, you have to meet certain qualifications.  It is quite the contrary.  Christianity is an inclusive group of people.  Anyone can become a Christian.  There is only one qualification:  you have to be a sinner.  And because that is the only qualification, everyone qualifies.  Now as easy as this sounds, many people struggle with the fact that they are sinners.  Most of us would like to think that we are good people and that in the end, God will see all the good we have done and let us into heaven.  However, admittance into heaven requires that a person be perfect.  Have you ever made one mistake in your life?  You told a little lie or you stole something small or you looked at another person lustfully.  All of those are sins in God's eyes.  In James 2: 10 it says, "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it."  When we break one of God's laws, it is as if we have broke all of His laws.  And because a person needs to be perfect to get into heaven, when we commit one sin, no matter how tiny it is, we are condemned for all of eternity.  This is where the above scripture comes in.  God loves us so much that he has provided a way for sinners to get into heaven.  His name is Jesus Christ.  In short, what happens is when a person puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ as their personal savior, when that person goes to meet the Lord, instead of being condemned for all the sins that person has committed, God sees that person as if he/she lived Jesus' perfect life.  Imagine a courtroom where God is the judge.  You're standing before Him about to be sentenced to death for all the wrongs that you've done.  But just as the punishment is about to be handed to you, the defense attorney, Jesus, intervenes on your behalf and says, "Your Honor, I have already taken the punishment for this man/woman."  That is why Jesus had to come to earth.  God needed a perfect sacrifice to bear the sins of every man and woman that has ever lived.  And because he lived a perfect life without sin, if you put your faith in him as your savior, you will know FOR CERTAIN that you will go to heaven.

It's not difficult to become a Christian.  It's not hard to understand.  Yet the simplicity of it will trip up so many people.  I hope that as you are reading this, the reality of what Christ did for us is weighing on your heart.  It's not just coincidence, its Jesus wanting you to invite him into your life.  Revelation 3: 20 says, "I stand and the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."  Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart.  He wants you to open it and let him in so he may dwell with you forever.  Let him in and experience all the love he has to give.