Choosing Faith in Jesus

So how can we know this God who is kind, gracious, compassionate, forgiving, and faithful? God's Word makes it clear that we live in a broken world.

Brokenness entered onto the scene after our great great great x200 grandparents Adam and Eve made the choice to honor their own desires rather than God's. They chose to sin, and sin is anything that falls short of God's holiness.

We have already learned that God is holy and, therefore, perfect and blameless, without fault. But we can all agree that we are not. We are far from perfect, often completely to blame, and our sisters, moms, husbands, or friends can confirm that we are, in fact, not without fault. This is called our sin nature. You and me, in the moment we entered into this world, were sinners. We inherited our sinful nature from Grandma Eve and Grandpa Adam and no matter how hard we try, we can't fix it on our own. We can't be perfect, we can't be blameless. And therefore, we cannot be in right relationship with our perfect holy God.

And this is where Jesus enters the scene. Jesus - fully God - was born, taking on a human body, and grew into a man who lived a perfect life. Fully God, fully man, He never sinned, never messed up. He lived and breathed perfection and, therefore, was the perfect sacrifice. He lived the life we couldn't live and died the death we should have died. He was the only One who could, through His death, make a way for us to come back to God. And He defeated death by raising from the dead. He bridged the gap and now, through Jesus, we have the opportunity to be in right relationship with God.

The Bible tells us in Romans 10:9 that "If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised  him from the dead, you will be saved." All it takes is faith, and a relationship with God is available to everyone!

And for those who believe in Jesus, His Word is available to teach us how to live a life for Him. In Scripture, we learn who God is, who He made us to be, and how those two truths change the way we live our lives!

The Bible is the best resource for all of our spiritual questions. It's the Word of life and from its pages we can see that God wants us to have a strong, rich, and joyful faith. But even the most joyful type of faith requires a level of commitment and focus.

2 Timothy 1:12 (KJV) shows a great example of commitment to God. Paul is speaking to Timothy when he writes, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

Paul knew that God would take care of him. He made the choice to believe that. Answer yourself honestly: Like Paul, do you or do you not believe that God is able to take care of you? Not just your friends or your family, but you. Do you believe that God cares for you and do you live as though you believe it? Or do you still struggle to believe that God's love for you is enough to cover or look past your faults? Do you still feel like you are not good enough?

Choosing faith in Jesus is not only asking Him to forgive your sins and save you. That is how your relationship begins, but just like any other relationship, it takes making the choice day after day to be His and to live for Him. And how sweet it is to trust Him, because He has already chosen us!  

Want to learn more about faith in Jesus? Check out our Start Here Handbook.