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Many people think a Christian is someone who lives a good life, someone who accepts there is a God, or goes to church. However, none of these by themselves makes a person a Christian.
Becoming a Christian centres on our response to the unique figure, Jesus Christ. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is no ordinary person. His birth was by the power of God. He claimed to be the only Son of God (John 19:7): our maker, God Himself in the flesh. He performed many amazing miracles authenticating this claim. Finally after being crucified, He rose bodily from the dead - and as the living Lord, has the right to be master of all. This includes us. We were created to love Him, the one true God, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30).
The problem we all face is that we have become estranged from a holy God. In essence, we have all defied Him, doubting Him and preferring our own way. The Bible says every single one of us is guilty of denying and ignoring Him (Romans 3:23). This is apparent in our failure to do what is right and our frequent misdeeds. This is why our world is full of problems. To treat Jesus this way is a crime punishable by death (Romans 6:23) and God will one day bring to account all who continue to defy Him. Without exception, our sin incurs God's wrath and puts us under His judgement (Acts 17:31)
God has not only spoken, He has also acted to remedy the situation. God loves us so much that He sent His Son to die for us. Jesus became man, as human as you and me, yet lived faithfully - the way we were meant to, blameless before God.
Jesus came to provide the single means of divine pardon: by His innocent death on the cross in our place, He was taking the punishment we deserved for ignoring Him. His resurrection is God's stamp of approval for this. This means we can be forgiven, when we turn around and stop defying Him. The Bible puts it like this: God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
There is no fence to sit on. Each of us is destined for death unless we respond positively to Jesus. You will stay with that destiny if you simply do nothing. To change destiny and gain eternal life, we must make a permanent decision to take God at His word, trust in His forgiveness and surrender to His direction. It is a new resolve to turn and follow Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (John 3:36).
To become a Christian you must acknowledge your past failure, surrender your life to God, and rely alone on Jesus.
Why not pray this prayer: "I admit I have ignored You and resisted Your right to direct me. I no longer want to live this way. I believe Jesus is the Son of God, that His death is the grounds for forgiveness for sinners and that He rose again. I commit from this day to follow Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, trusting and obeying Him in the knowledge that I am secure in God's Kingdom,
What It Means To Be a Christian