When I started college I didn’t have money. I had a small monthly income from the death of my father, but it wasn’t enough to live on. Without the generosity of my aunt and uncle I wouldn’t have had a roof over my head. It’s a debt I can’t repay.
I lived on campus my first year of college and I didn’t have money to buy towels so my aunt gave me freeway towels. That’s what I am calling them anyway. My uncle picked them up from the side of the freeway in San Diego as he drove here and there but my aunt washed them in hot water.
I was born to a family name that had respect because of money but due to the divorce of my parents everything changed. Life was always a struggle for me. So freeway towels were not an insult, but a welcome necessity. My aunt and uncle helped me so much to try and get me to a better place in life.
I knew I needed something more. I went to churches and they told me to ask Jesus into my heart and I did, but it didn’t change me. I was also baptized but, that too didn’t change me. In the years that followed I made many mistakes in which I regret.
Years go by and my career progresses but my personal life falls apart. God will sometimes allow that to draw you to Him or to test you. In my case, it worked.
I realized that saying those words years ago didn’t change me because saying that is not what saves you. I had been a Sunday school teacher, a Christian school teacher and a pastor’s wife but I was lost.
So how can anyone be saved? The disciples had the same question!
26And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,c “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:26-27
Okay so how? I had been to many churches and seen many sermons but it did not change me. I still was prone to sin. Christianity wasn’t working for me for the same reason it wasn’t working for many others. It wasn’t a real relationship. I wasn’t fooling anyone but myself. Neither are you dear readers.
It was when I made a decision on my own, not coerced by anyone. I had to seek God wholeheartedly and I finally found him. I ditched alcohol, secular TV and movies, and the Bible became the most important book in my life. I watched sermons on YouTube but some of them were way off what I was reading in the Bible! They were designed to make you feel good so you would listen again.
So how do you get right with God?
Let’s take a look at what Jesus said!
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Mark 1:15
So, the Lord said to repent AND believe. So what exactly is repent?
For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
2 Corinthians 7:10
Genuine sorrow is part of the commitment to Jesus process. You can’t commit to Him and then go to the liquor store and drop hundreds on distilled spirits. That’s not commitment. You can’t say you commit to Him and then go home to a man or woman that’s not your spouse. You choose one or the other. You can’t lie all over town and then hit church on Sunday with your Sunday best on; it’s not genuine faith.
When I put aside all that, my life started to turn for the better. When I hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, I obey. Sometimes it’s really difficult to do that, but the peace that come from that is worth it.
Maybe you are at that point in your life where a lot of junk is happening and you want it to stop. Open your Bibles friends, ask God for forgiveness each day because we sin each day. Some day you will be able to look back and say that was a really hard time.
What you don’t want to do is take your chances. Every day people enter into eternity and a wise person prepares for that day. It won’t go good if you don’t. The time to ask for mercy from Jesus is today not when you stand before Him. Then is too late. Whatever it is that is standing between you and God give it to Him. It’s not worth your soul being sent to the fire.
Alcohol is a poison. Sex is fleeting. Gambling may make you happy one day and sad the next. Cigarettes will destroy your health. None of that can satisfy your soul; only Jesus can.
If you are ready to turn to Him, start by sincerely apologizing to God. He loves a contrite heart. Then start reading the Holy Bible a half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening. Add in worship music and your life will change.
Don’t waste your time with TV preachers and Internet preachers but go directly to God; he is your high priest. Get involved, if you can, with a local group of believers for accountability.
God loves us more than any person does. My aunt and uncle gave me the freeway towels, a roof over my head, food, transportation, a more normal family setting and so much more. Imagine if I didn’t talk to them? God gave His son for us. Imagine how He feels when we go days without Him?
Don’t delay – get right with God today.
Following Jesus 