From His heart and mine ... What do Christians believe?

I wrote this one day for one of my students who wanted to know what Christians believe. I hope this will bless others too.

We believe that God created this world and that He created us.

We believe that God loves us and wants us to spend eternity with Him. However, God is perfect, completely pure and holy, and we are not. However "good" we may try to be, and however "good" we may appear to be in comparison with someone else, we still fall very far short of God's perfect standard. In the book of Romans (in the New Testament of the Bible), it is said,

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23).

Because God is holy and we are not, there is a separation between us and God, and we cannot by our own efforts join Him in heaven.

However, God loves us so much that He provided a way for us to be saved. In the book of John (the fourth book of the New Testament), it is said,

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

This "Son" is Jesus. He is God's only son and God loves US so much that He was willing to sacrifice His beloved only Son to save us. According to the bible,

"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23)

In other words, the punishment for sin is death. Because we are sinful, our punishment, rightfully, would be death. But in His love for us, God sacrificed His son Jesus to take our place, to take our punishment.

So, according to the bible, Jesus was born into this earth in human form through a virgin, Mary. (Jesus's birth the reason Christians celebrate Christmas.)

Read the real Christmas story, as recorded in the bible.

Jesus lived a perfect life. He was eventually crucified (i.e. killed by being nailed to a cross), and died, but three days after His death, He rose from the dead. After this resurrection, Jesus stayed on earth for forty days before He was taken up to heaven, and He now sits with God in heaven. (This is why three days after Good Friday, we have Easter Sunday.)

Read about Jesus's death and resurrection, as recorded in the bible.

When Jesus died on the cross, He was our "substitutive sacrifice". In other words, He took the punishment for sin that should have been ours. Because of this selfless act, Jesus made available a way for us to be reconciled to God. It does not matter who we are or what wrongs we have done. Jesus paid the price for our sin in full.

"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18).

We believe that it is only by believing in Jesus that we are saved and will go to heaven. The bible records Jesus as saying

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6).

In other words, Christians believe that trusting in Jesus as their Saviour is the only way to heaven. There is no other way. To use academic-speak, believing in Jesus and the saving power of his death on the cross is the "necessary and sufficient" condition of being saved. There are no special works that we can do to secure ourselves a place in heaven. If there was really something that we could do to earn a place in heaven, there would have been no need for God to sacrifice His son and there would have been no need for Jesus to suffer such a painful death. But there was no other way for a perfect, holy God to be united with sinful people. Jesus was and is the only way.

We believe that each and every person who chooses to accept that Jesus died for their sins and who asks Jesus to come into their lives is saved. Although Jesus died for everyone in the whole world, WE must make the decision to accept Him before we can benefit from His sacrifice. John 3:17-18 says:

"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:17-18)

Elsewhere, the bible also says,

"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (John 1:12).

Accepting Jesus involves (a) agreeing with God that we are sinful and making a decision to turn from our sin, and (b) believing that Jesus died for our sins, and that through Him, we have God's forgiveness.

We believe that Jesus is just waiting for everyone to accept Him. In the bible, Jesus says,

"Here I am! I stand at 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." (Revelations 3:20)

And HOW exactly does one "accept Jesus" or "become" a Christian?

The following (or something similar) is a prayer that people are sometimes asked to pray when they decide that they want to accept Jesus:

"Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I invite you into my life and receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be."

If you can say this and believe it with your heart, you can accept Jesus right now and Jesus will come into your life.

Some people have asked me if they need to have a Christian with them when they say this prayer. No. This is between us and God. However, it is a good idea if you are a new believer to find a Christian friend or church soon after, so that they can help you grow and understand more about Jesus and what it means to follow Him.

If you are a student, friend, or colleague of mine, and you would like to find out more about Jesus and what Christians believe, please come and see me at any time.