Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Psalm 66:16
Let me share with you the greatest day of my life. It was the day I entered the family of God.
On 23 August 1977, kneeling beside my mother in the town of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour. Earlier that morning there had been a Bible club held in our home. I had once again heard the gospel or good news that Jesus Christ had died and risen again to pay the penalty that my sin deserved1. Of course, that penalty is eternal damnation in hell.2 Realising He had been my substitute3, and was offering to forgive me4, I took His gift of eternal life.
Now I enjoy a real relationship with God5. Rather than being His enemy6, I delight in a close friendship with Him7. He has, and continues to, supernaturally transform me8. He has promised that someday I will leave this world to dwell with Him eternally9. I am blessed to know this for certain10.
A colleague who doesn’t have all these rich blessings recently said that I should stop putting myself through the misery that Christians suffer. He thinks we believers are missing out on life’s joys. How skewed his view of genuine Christianity is!
Being saved from sin’s condemnation is the greatest joy of my life! I can only sing with Edwin Excell…
1 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.
2 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23.
3 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21.
4 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Ephesians 1:7.
5 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 1:7.
6 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Romans 8:7.
7 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1.
8 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.
9 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5:24.
10 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:11-13.