answers
How Can I Ever be Good Enough for God?
By Sharon Houk
Guest Writer
CBN.com –
God wants you as you are, he really does. And no, you’ll never be “good enough,” but read on. This thing called the Church and its Christianity has been around for about two thousand years. Its founder, Jesus Christ, is the only one who had it all together.
When he started his teaching “career” in the hillsides of Jerusalem, Jesus asked for volunteers. The first few were uneducated, unshowered fisherman. Next was a hard working, law abiding, yet detested, tax-collector (men in this profession didn’t live like the church thought they ought to). The list went on to include men who were short-tempered, slow-witted, doubtful, and one was so messed up he committed suicide (Herbert Lockyer, All the Apostles of the Bible, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1972). Notice, there were no doctors, lawyers, or great philosophers amongst the bunch.
Jesus and his volunteers, or disciples, hung out with the “no-goods” of his day. He hung out with people who needed what he offered—salvation from their infirmities through physical, spiritual, and emotional healing. “When the teachers of the law who were [the church leaders] saw him eating with the ‘sinners’ and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:16-17). Jesus accepted people as they were—sinners. None of them were “good enough” and neither are we, not without Christ.
It is only after we understand that we can never be “good enough” apart from a Savior, that we are ready to receive righteousness through what Jesus Christ did for us. Only after accepting Christ’s sacrifice for one’s sins, can one be “good enough” for God. Jesus’ perfect-ness is what makes it work. We come as we are. Only Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection can make us “good enough” for God (Romans 3:10, 19-20).
Do You Want a Relationship with God?
If you want this kind of relationship with God, pray this prayer right now:
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you took the pain of the cross to give me new life. I ask you to come into my life and to give me your peace and joy. I confess that I am a sinner -- that I have gone my own way and have done wrong. Please forgive me for my sins. I receive you now as my Lord and Savior. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. Help me to follow you and to serve you all my life. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are now a child of God. The things of your old life have passed away and He has made all things new.
We want to join you in celebrating your new life. Please send us an e-mail to let us know that you prayed to receive Jesus as your Savior. Or you can call our Prayer Counseling Center at (800) 759-0700. A caring friend is available to talk with you and send you some resources to help you begin your walk with the Lord.
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