How to Be a Christian

How To Be A Christian THE SEARCHER: For years I have tried to be a Christian. I have tried and failed so many times that I am not going to try again because I have no faith left to try. THE TEACHER: What did you try and in what have you lost faith? THE SEARCHER: I suppose I tried to get God in my life, but I have been defeated so I have lost faith in myself. You see, I really wanted to be a Christian, to have God’s presence, guidance and help in life. I took special instructions, I joined the church, I tried hard to be a Christian; but in my heart I knew there was no change. I went to the altar again and again and yet I received nothing. I have sought and cried after God so much and so many times that I feel that I am a complete failure. THE TEACHER: Did you ever stop to think that salvation is a gift, that it is unnecessary for you to go anywhere to get it? You can find God anywhere and miss Him everywhere. Do you realize that receiving salvation is not dependent upon what you do but what Christ Jesus did for you? Do you realize that to be a child of God, to receive eternal life, to be saved, converted, born again, is to receive something instead of giving something? You become a Christian by receiving a gift from the very heart of God directly to you. You, like so many others, thought that receiving Christ depended upon what you gave up, what you surrendered, how much sin you confessed. It doesn’t. You become a Christian by believing that God raised Jesus from the dead, by confessing him as lord in your life. THE SEARCHER: Surely it can’t be as simple as that. I thought and heard and was taught that I must do certain things and give up other things. THE TEACHER: If that were true, then you would be earning your salvation; you would be working for it. There is nothing in the Bible that indicates such a process. Look at Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Go