Simply Told, the Old, Old Story

God made the world and he made us and everything was good. But we have not lived according to his plans for us, we have lived according to our own plans instead. That is what the Bible means when it says:

"All of us were like sheep
that had wandered off.
We had each gone our own way,
but the Lord gave him
the punishment we deserved" (Isaiah 53:6 TEV)

Living according to our plans instead of God's plans for us is called "sin" in the Bible. But the Lord gave him (Jesus) the punishment we deserved.

God knew we would not be perfect. Once Adam and Eve, who were the first people God created, had sinned and become imperfect, they could never have perfect children.

God has only perfect things in his home in heaven, and he wanted to take us there too. But we wouldn't fit, his home would be ruined with sin and rebellion. God could hardly bear the thought of losing us.

But God found a way to keep us. It would cost him dearly. The Bible says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

God's Son, Jesus, who was perfect, left heaven and was born as a human baby, a miracle birth that made him fully God and fully human at the same time. He lived a perfect life, full of love and caring and always followed God in all things.

He came to pay the price for what we had done wrong. He died on a cross and rose from the grave after three days. He appeared to many after his death in his resurrected body. He went back to heaven and is with God now.

The Bible says: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.... for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'" (Romans 10:9,13).

The only way what Jesus has done for us can apply to our lives is for us to believe him and confess him as the Lord (ruler) of our lives. Everyone who does that will be saved from the hopelessness that going our own way has caused. We will be given a new start.

God will actually forgive us and come into our lives when we confess to him our sin and invite him in. He will help us become what he created us to be to start with. He will take us to heaven when we die.

To read the story of how I came to know God, click here.