There are so many misconceptions about Christianity. It would be easier if every church believed, taught, and preached the same message. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Many people are afraid of Christianity. They feel it’s too confining. You have to give up everything you like and fun times are over. Some people think being a Christian is a boring life, or they would expect it to be. You have to give up everything for a being you can’t see or hear. Many also believe that God is a control freak.
The reason I became a Christian (told Jesus I was sorry for my sins, asked Him forgive me, thanked Him for dying on the cross for my sins, asked Him to save my soul) was because I knew I didn’t deserve the kind of love He offered.
My childhood was mediocre. I was shy, insecure, had very little, if any self-esteem. Because of my mom’s bipolar kind of temper, I didn’t feel loved. I believed I was not worthy of being loved. I believed with all my heart that I was the ugliest, dumbest thing on the planet and had no right to breathe the air God gave us. I tried to commit suicide twice but no one ever noticed.
I was bullied because I didn’t care what I looked like. Like many kids who go through this, I didn’t like myself. Why should I? No one else did. (I did have a few friends but kids like I was are good at lying to themselves, saying they don’t have any.)
Skip to 1974 when my sister-in-law took me to a Christian concert. For the first time in my life I heard the gospel: that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth to take the punishment for the sins of all mankind. I heard the most beautiful love songs sung to and about Jesus. That was a new experience for me. At the end of the concert the singer gave an invitation to accept the free gift of eternal life by asking forgiveness for my sins, and accepting Jesus’s sacrifice through His death, burial, and resurrection. It changed my life for two weeks. Then I was back to my old temperamental, angry, self-loathing self.
A few months later I went to a Billy Graham movie, Time to Run. The main character was a young man who didn’t get along with his family, getting into trouble, and running from rules and himself. I saw myself in that character and knew I needed a change. When the invitation was given to accept Jesus as my Savior. I went forward and I’ve never been sorry. I found out that the God who created the universe created me on purpose because He wanted to be my heavenly Father. Who, me? Why would He do that? Why would God want a loser nobody like me? I don’t know; I just know He did, and I’ve never been sorry I got saved (from my old life), born again, made into someone whom He has taught how to love. God has taught me, and continues to teach me compassion, empathy, and love for others that is way beyond my human nature to produce. Do I have it all right? No. Like the children’s song says: “He’s Still Working on Me.”
Want to know more? Come back on March 20 for the next segment. See you then. Feel free to leave comments below, but please be respectful. I can handle constructive criticism, but there is no excuse for rudeness or just being mean.
The Encouragement Corner 