Hi friends!!
Happy Friday! I hope you all have had a great week!! I thought it would be fun to start off with a fun fact about myself. I LOVE Disney World, and I just think it is so fun to feel like a child again. My favorite ride is Splash Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and I always get the mickey-shaped soft pretzel. :)
This week I will be talking about why Jesus had to die on the cross. Let’s first start off from the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth and made the world perfect. He made Adam and Eve in His own image, and said that they were very good. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, bringing sin into the world.
It says in Romans 6:23 that, “the wages of sin is death.” Simply put, sin separates us from God and eternity with Him in heaven. The bridge between mankind and God was broken. Fortunately, God had a plan in all of this. He loved us so much that He wanted to spend eternity with us, so He sent His son, Jesus, down to earth. Jesus was fully man and fully God. He lived a perfect and sinless life, and died on the cross as the ransom for all of humanity's sins.
Jesus had to be sinless for the payment of our sins. Back in the Old Testament, the Israelite's’ performed animal sacrifices to God, so they could symbolically be cleansed for their sins. They sacrificed a pure and spotless (blameless) lamb to God. They needed the perfect sacrifice to be forgiven. Jesus is our spotless lamb. Jesus had to be sinless to be our substitute for death. Some call this loving action the “great exchange.” Jesus died, exchanged his life, so that we could live, much like how the lamb died for the cleansing of the Israelite's' sins. God nailed our sins to the cross. Mark 10:45 reminds us that, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Through Jesus’ death we have the choice of living through believing and putting our trust in Jesus Christ alone. He set us free from our sins.
The wonderful news is that the story does not end there! Jesus rose from the dead three days later conquering sin and death. Jesus not only died and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins, but also so that we can have life when believing in Him. We have the opportunity of eternal life in heaven with God apart from evil and suffering. Jesus died on the cross so that we can experience God's goodness and eternal life, what a gift!
If you have not accepted Jesus as your savior and Lord, don’t worry, it is simple! All it is, is a simple heartfelt prayer. This is something you can do if you truly believe God is your Savior and Lord; it is an active acceptance of Him. Here is a guided prayer:
Acknowledge your sin (an act of offense against God /disobeying God) to God and ask for forgiveness of your own sins.
Tell God that you believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again and forgave you of your sins: past, present, future.
Accept God as your personal savior and Lord, and trust His plan above your own.
Lastly, end the prayer with thanks to God for sending His son down to die for you and for eternal life in heaven.
After you pray this, you will experience an immediate change because your old self has gone away and God has given you your new self. You should not stop after this prayer because God calls you to more! He calls you to trust in Him, obey, and be made Holy through Christ alone. I pray you can find your full trust in God alone. Have a great week!!
With joy,
Megan
