ok..im new to all this, and probley shouldnt be posting yet again..but here goes.
1.what is being saved?
2.what do you do to make god love you?
3.what happens if you dont deserve it?
Hi Rowy!
Welcome to CF!
You ask such great questions and I'm glad you posted them.
Here is what being saved is about.
We have all sinned (done wrong - all wrongdoing is sin) against God.
Due to our sin, while we are yet alive, we are actually dead (spiritually) and have a broken relationship with God.
In that state we are unsaved as is anyone prior to believing/trusting in Christ.
If we died, we would go to hell, if we died in our sin.
You've heard I'm sure that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and thereby paying for our sins. Then even though He died for our sins, He was resurrected (He did not stay in the grave, but arose.)
The bible shows us that if we believe/trust in Christ we will be forgiven our sin, and we will be saved, and when we die, we will be with God in heaven. Since Jesus was resurrected, we too will be. We know we won't stay in the grave. Immediately upon death we are with the Lord. Our body dies but we (our soul or who we are) goes to be with God.
When we trust/believe in Christ, the Holy Spirit (God) indwells us, we are a new creation in Christ, we are born again. So, we are born spiritually in a sense, as now we are alive and before we were dead.
Our sins are forgiven past present and future.
Just one quick note I forgot, that there is one God who is revealed in 3 persons. So one God, 3 persons.
Father, Son (Jesus), Holy Spirit - this is called the trinity. This is not an easy concept for anyone to grasp but is how the bible shows us who God is.
On your next question, what do we do to make God love us.
He already loves you very much so. You are very precious in His site, and God wants all to come to Christ and be saved.
There is nothing you need to do to make God love you. You come as you are to Christ, there is nothing you need to do but believe and trust Jesus for your life to be saved.
Your 3rd question is what if you don't deserve it?
Hon, there is nothing in this world that anyone can do that Jesus (God) would reject you or not accept you.
Many of us have lived very dark lives, others not so dark, and while we all have different experiences, many as well, feel they are undeserving and unlovable, and as is how they are treated by others, and they feel/think God might think the same.
Such is not so in the world, and not so with God. You are deserving and lovable by those in the world, and God loves you very much, no matter what you've done, no matter what anyone has said to you, no matter what..
When we come to Christ, we live a new life. It's something that God does in us, he brings a change in us when we believe in Christ (which is the same as being born again.)
So when someone comes to Christ and believes and trusts in Jesus, they are sealed and marked a deposit, the Holy Spirit (God) indwells us, and we will be saved.
What occurs when someone comes to Christ varies with each person.
I'll share what occurred with me, but in no wise does it mean same thing with you as again we are all different.
The moment I came to Christ, which for me was answering 2 questions from the pastor I spoke to. More happened previously but this is where I was born again. People come to Christ by all different means, meaning, that the 2 questions he asked me, may not and often times are not asked of another.
Sometimes no questions are asked and so just reminding you of everyone being unique in how we come to Christ.
I was immediately born again, (didn't know such at the time), and walked out of the office and knew immediately I had always known this was truth (Jesus, that he exists) but somehow suppressed it. Another thing also occurred immediately, which I won't go into in this post.
While no one told me what to do at all, I began reading the bible.
I immediately had no desire for my past life at all, the dark life I had been living; I just no longer desired those things and as I read the bible I learned much.
As we read the bible as Christians (after coming to Christ) our minds are renewed or we are changed our minds I mean. As I said, I no longer desired to sin (even before I had started to read the bible) as I had before, and I acutely knew Jesus was with me.
Jesus is who it is all about. He is our Savior and He guides us gently and lovingly and with more love and care than one can dream or imagine. To be aware of His presence is awesome.. And I'll never forget when I first was a Christian how I always sensed He was with me at every step of my life.
I had a hunger for the bible, and couldn't put it down.
Some women at this church, reached out to me, godly women and helped me with questions I had, and friend, I felt i was so unworthy of anything, I couldn't even go into church, as I thought everyone was so good and I was so bad, and I would sit in the car and cry.
Finally I told one of the women in church on the phone that I kept coming, but didn't go in. She encouraged me to come in and as I said, a few other women also reached out to me, and they were mature in faith, and accepted me as I was, did not judge me, and just helped me very much as I was growing in Christ.
All our lives we will grow in Christ.
So, with me, when I came to Christ many things changed about me almost immediately. Is not so with everyone, as we all are different, and so never to worry whatever your walk with God is like, it is your walk, and is between you and God.
God is the one who changed me, as you recall I said no man had said, not to do x, or I had to do x, nothing was given me, as the pastor knew that God does the work. I learned this much later, when in hindsight.
As we read the bible, we see truths and promises and much of what we read in the bible is what helps us through our life. We can have deep joy and peace and much more.
We are blessed as we do good and right, and we hunger to serve God (again, all depends on each person, as to when such occurs, or how it occurs), just relaying how I was.
We no longer desire to sin. We know much of what sin is already, some we don't know, and some we think we know as others may have said something which may not be true.
Many people believe things about God or the bible and Christianity which are not truths, and so, is good to check in the bible and also get help if possible by going to church, and a small bible study is a very good way as well in which to grow and learn.
So, whatever you may have in your mind about God, Christians, and the bible, may not be accurate, and so not to worry, you will grow and learn as you read the bible.
So in reading the bible, we see things we are commanded to do, and commanded not to do. God made us free will beings and we can choose to do what God says to do or not to do, or we can choose not to.
As I said, when we do right and good, which would be God's commands, we are blessed, inside us we know we are doing right and that blessed us.
We know we are honoring God and that blesses us. Some of the commands in the bible are about sin, or about doing good things, or about how to love others, etc. Others things would be things we are commanded not to do, of course sin being one, but as well as other things.
When we do wrong, we don't get those blessings and sometimes often, pull away from God, afraid to talk to him, though never ever have to be afraid, but often occurs. And also, even though we pull away, God nevr does, he never leaves us or forsakes us. It's us that pulls away, never God.
Even though we are forgiven all our sin, we still sin as Christians. As we don't always do as commanded. As Christians depending on where one is at with God, we desire not to sin, and seek to do right, but we can also be in times, when we are not walking closely with God.
God knows where we are and why we are where we are.
No one keeps all of the commands perfectly. Only Jesus is the only sinless person who ever existed, which is why He was able to die for our sins, as a sinless sacrifice was need to pay for all sin. Jesus was that sacrifice. He is God, He always existed, called the Son of God and is God, name is Jesus, and he was born of a virgin (mary), and became Savior to all who believe and trust in Him.
If you want to come to Christ, you can just talk to God, and tell him that, tell him anything on your heart, and tell him you want to be his child, or whatever words you desire to use. The two questions I answered were, would I commit my life to Christ and would I die for Christ.
Others can hear a message and then someone leads them in prayer (which is just talking to God) if they desire to bellieve and trust Jesus with their lives.
Others can come other ways, as unique as we all are, we come to Christ, all thru belief and trust in Him but it may be in different ways than the two examples above and indeed there are many who you will find out later what led them to Jesus and how they were saved (or born again.)
God will never fail you. He never fails. He never does evil, he only seeks our good and works all things to the good for those who believe in Him.
In the bible we see that life will be full of struggles for us, and that each day we are told to take up the cross. That means to follow Christ and walk as He walked, and as you read about Him you'll understand more.
Taking up our cross also means putting to death in us, desires that are not good for us, the old man, or our old self, and taking on the new. All this comes by our willingness to do as we learn in the bible and by God helping us and working in us.
The world is not like it was meant to be. God created all things good, and then you'll read in Genesis about the fall of man. Man sinned, and God cursed the earth and there's more about that in Genesis. But due to such we live in a fallen world.
Others sin and hurt us and hurt others, we sin and do the same.
And we trust in God as we go thru this life. We keep our eyes focused on Christ and not on man, as man will always let us down, even our friends, could be a pastor, anyone at all, which is why as a Christian we need always focus and trust only in Christ, and never in man, as I said, we all sin and can and will fail.
In reading this over, I can't see if I wrote this, but the Father, Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit, again, one God in 3 persons, always existed. Never created, always was. Angels and humans and all creation was created by God, but no one created God, God always was; or has always been, or has always existed, and alway will. God has no beginning and no end, as we too have no end but we did have a beginning as we were created by God.
If you desire to read a little in the bible I'll give you a link to john, which many say is a good place to start reading, not sure why, but is why I'm giving you this link:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=50&chapter=1&version=31
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning
.
Above is verse one and two of John, and the Word is Jesus and note what it says, and then you can also read on more if you like in that book of John in the bible.
Being in Christ is the best place anyone can ever be, and you'll understand when such happens, should you desire to come to Christ, and no matter what happens, we know what God gives us in the bible (truths which help us moment by moment) as well as that this life is short, compared to eternity which we will be with God after this life.
God bless you
take care,
tapero
