Becoming a Christian — Saying “YES!” to God
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When You Want More Than Knowing "About" God . .
When You Want to KNOW God and Belong to Him What it is ‘to be a Christian” can be such a complicated subject. It can take a lifetime to understand, and has consumed centuries of theologians refining the explanation of God and His Salvation. This article is written more in the spirit of one person seeking to help another person understand what God wants to do for a person to redeem him or her, making you a child of God. Please read it in this frame of mind. And this article is not meant to argue with those who have antipathy to the Christian message and Christ; there are plenty of website that give a strong defense of the faith. The scripture say that first we must believe that God exists and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. So this missive is for those who are searching, and hoping that Salem might help them establish a personal, saving relationship with God. I’ve tried to avoid “churchy” words, so some may think this simplistic and inadequate; instead I hope (and pray) that you may read this because you want to know how to become a Christian, or to affirm and rejoice in the saving faith you already possess. - Rev. Don Underwood, retired UM Pastor, a part of Salem UMC, and Administrator of this website. |
To become a Christian is to say the biggest “Yes!” of our lives. There are other big yeses we say along the way that influence the rest of our lives, including “Yes, i want to go to that school,” “Yes, I choose this job/career,” “Yes, I’ll live in this place,” “I’ll be a friend with these people,” “I’ll join my life with this person in marriage,” and “Yes, I’ll do this thing, regardless the cost, because it’s the right thing to do.” But saying “Yes!” to God is the biggest affirmation all.
God has been saying yes to us all our life. From our birth, in His love and care for us, he has worked for our good, inviting us to know the One who loves us so. Methodists call this part of God’s grace (from our birth to our becoming a Christian) “Prevenient Grace,” or “the grace that comes before.” Do you have an awareness that God has always been there and loving you?
We begin to respond to this wooing grace. We say “little yeses” to God -- including such things as choosing to live the best we can, praying, reading our Bible, going to church, as we seek to “draw near to God.” We may feel we are getting closer to God, but something is still missing.
Then we begin to sense that God is drawing near to us. That there really is a Living God and that He knows and loves me, and wants a real relationship with me. The scripture speaks in awe of “the God with whom we have to do.”
But we can’t let that relationship be limited to “little yeses.” Little yeses can substitute for establishing a relationship with God if we do not move to “The Big Yes.” Most people hope their serious dating relationship will culminate in marriage, the Big Yes two people say to each other. In the wedding ceremony they make a covenant that expresses their absolute desire to give their all to the one who is saying the same to them.
The outward, visible sign of making the Big-Yes-Covenant-with-God is baptism. It outwardly represents the genuine, heartfelt love we have for God and the bond we wish to make, and to make known. One can imagine someone “getting married” by just repeating the words of a ceremony. But a "real wedding/real marriage" is much, much more; the couple sincerely say to one another their love and their vow. In that sense, getting baptized is not how to become a Christian; but one who has become a Christian will want to make a public profession of their faith, celebrating their baptism.
This article is an attempt to explain the inward (and necessary) part of becoming a Christian. We have come to realize that the Living God wants a real relationship with us. And we delight in speaking with Him (prayer), telling Him how much we have come to love Him (worship), learning all we can about Him, and participating in the things He’s involved in (serving). THAT is what is going on inside us. And we want that connection with God to be a “forever relationship.”
It may suddenly dawn on us that while we are greatly loved and wanted, that we are not as good as the One who loves us. How could we hope to believe that God would want me, to establish a forever-relationship with even me?! That’s when we really hear the Good News: “God shows His love for us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And “God so loved [the world/all of us/me] that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
And then we dare to believe that it’s true, that God does love me and He has made a way for me, in Christ, to have a forever relationship with Him. We make a "decision of faith," a faith choice. Christians understand faith to be like a two-sided coin: one side of faith is trust (trusting that God, and not our efforts, has made a way for us through Christ) and the other side is commitment. We pray and ask Him, in trusting faith, to forgive us our sins (which we admit to Him), to make us His own and tell Him we choose Him, committing ourself to His will for our life. This is the way we respond to the undeserved favor God is showing us, and we call this prayerful moment our moment of receiving God's “Justifying Grace.” It is an amazing grace indeed!
In that Big Yes moment, several things happen:
OUR STATUS BEFORE GOD CHANGES. We admit to ourself and to God (that's called confession) that we have sinned, and ask His forgiveness. And we are forgiven! ALL our sins are forgiven and forgotten by God. The Bible word for this is “justified,” and that is rather simply described as being “just-as-I’d-never-sinned.” It’s even better than that: God not only wipes away “the debt of our sin,” but He at the same time credits Christ’s righteousness to us! The scripture explains it this way: God made Him who know no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5;21)
THE STATE OF OUR HEART CHANGES. We are transformed! Our hearts are changed. So not only are our past offenses forgiven and forgotten (the slate is wiped clean), but we are changed in a way that makes it possible for us to live a different -- and better -- life. The Bible talks about this change as “metamorphosis,” and is the same word that is used to describe the mysterious and wondrous transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Christians also call this “conversion,” and it’s like being born again, now living a new and different life in Christ. Ask persons you genuinely believe to be a Christian, and they’ll very likely tell you that becoming a Christian was literally “life-changing!”
WHERE CHRIST STANDS IN RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES. Christ comes to live in us! Jesus once talked to His disciples about this: “He is WITH you, and shall be IN you.) That’s why Christians often describe becoming a Christian as “inviting Christ into your heart.” Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in . . . .” (Revelation 3:20). The Apostle Paul asked Christians of his day the question, “Do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) This, by the way, is the powerful source of living the Christian life -- Christ IN us! God has always been with us, but now He will be in us.
And it all begins by asking God — through Christ — to forgive us all our sins, change us, live in us . . . saying “YES!” to all God desires for us. You can do this right this minute! Stop and pray to the living and loving God.
[O U R M O M E N T O F P R A Y E R]
We hear sometimes hear a call to “repent and believe!” And too often we only think of “repent” as “turning away from sin” (something that we’ve tried to do, again and again, as if we are straightening up our lives and making ourselves finally acceptable to God). But sin has a powerful allure, and again and again we fail. So think of repentance in this way: Repent means “turn.” When God and His love for us becomes a more powerful attraction to us, more attractive than sin (or sin becomes repulsive to us but we find ourself powerless to break its tie) then we turn to God. (And in doing so, we are turning away from sin.) And find in Him acceptance and power to live the life He desires for us. Have you turned to God, and said to Him, “YES!”?
If you want to talk to a pastor about questions you still have about these things, please feel free to call Rev. David Cott or Rev. Don Underwood at 770-786-6027. We’d love to talk with you!
God has been saying yes to us all our life. From our birth, in His love and care for us, he has worked for our good, inviting us to know the One who loves us so. Methodists call this part of God’s grace (from our birth to our becoming a Christian) “Prevenient Grace,” or “the grace that comes before.” Do you have an awareness that God has always been there and loving you?
We begin to respond to this wooing grace. We say “little yeses” to God -- including such things as choosing to live the best we can, praying, reading our Bible, going to church, as we seek to “draw near to God.” We may feel we are getting closer to God, but something is still missing.
Then we begin to sense that God is drawing near to us. That there really is a Living God and that He knows and loves me, and wants a real relationship with me. The scripture speaks in awe of “the God with whom we have to do.”
But we can’t let that relationship be limited to “little yeses.” Little yeses can substitute for establishing a relationship with God if we do not move to “The Big Yes.” Most people hope their serious dating relationship will culminate in marriage, the Big Yes two people say to each other. In the wedding ceremony they make a covenant that expresses their absolute desire to give their all to the one who is saying the same to them.
The outward, visible sign of making the Big-Yes-Covenant-with-God is baptism. It outwardly represents the genuine, heartfelt love we have for God and the bond we wish to make, and to make known. One can imagine someone “getting married” by just repeating the words of a ceremony. But a "real wedding/real marriage" is much, much more; the couple sincerely say to one another their love and their vow. In that sense, getting baptized is not how to become a Christian; but one who has become a Christian will want to make a public profession of their faith, celebrating their baptism.
This article is an attempt to explain the inward (and necessary) part of becoming a Christian. We have come to realize that the Living God wants a real relationship with us. And we delight in speaking with Him (prayer), telling Him how much we have come to love Him (worship), learning all we can about Him, and participating in the things He’s involved in (serving). THAT is what is going on inside us. And we want that connection with God to be a “forever relationship.”
It may suddenly dawn on us that while we are greatly loved and wanted, that we are not as good as the One who loves us. How could we hope to believe that God would want me, to establish a forever-relationship with even me?! That’s when we really hear the Good News: “God shows His love for us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” And “God so loved [the world/all of us/me] that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
And then we dare to believe that it’s true, that God does love me and He has made a way for me, in Christ, to have a forever relationship with Him. We make a "decision of faith," a faith choice. Christians understand faith to be like a two-sided coin: one side of faith is trust (trusting that God, and not our efforts, has made a way for us through Christ) and the other side is commitment. We pray and ask Him, in trusting faith, to forgive us our sins (which we admit to Him), to make us His own and tell Him we choose Him, committing ourself to His will for our life. This is the way we respond to the undeserved favor God is showing us, and we call this prayerful moment our moment of receiving God's “Justifying Grace.” It is an amazing grace indeed!
In that Big Yes moment, several things happen:
OUR STATUS BEFORE GOD CHANGES. We admit to ourself and to God (that's called confession) that we have sinned, and ask His forgiveness. And we are forgiven! ALL our sins are forgiven and forgotten by God. The Bible word for this is “justified,” and that is rather simply described as being “just-as-I’d-never-sinned.” It’s even better than that: God not only wipes away “the debt of our sin,” but He at the same time credits Christ’s righteousness to us! The scripture explains it this way: God made Him who know no sin [Jesus] to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of Christ. (2 Corinthians 5;21)
THE STATE OF OUR HEART CHANGES. We are transformed! Our hearts are changed. So not only are our past offenses forgiven and forgotten (the slate is wiped clean), but we are changed in a way that makes it possible for us to live a different -- and better -- life. The Bible talks about this change as “metamorphosis,” and is the same word that is used to describe the mysterious and wondrous transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Christians also call this “conversion,” and it’s like being born again, now living a new and different life in Christ. Ask persons you genuinely believe to be a Christian, and they’ll very likely tell you that becoming a Christian was literally “life-changing!”
WHERE CHRIST STANDS IN RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES. Christ comes to live in us! Jesus once talked to His disciples about this: “He is WITH you, and shall be IN you.) That’s why Christians often describe becoming a Christian as “inviting Christ into your heart.” Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in . . . .” (Revelation 3:20). The Apostle Paul asked Christians of his day the question, “Do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” (2 Corinthians 13:5) This, by the way, is the powerful source of living the Christian life -- Christ IN us! God has always been with us, but now He will be in us.
And it all begins by asking God — through Christ — to forgive us all our sins, change us, live in us . . . saying “YES!” to all God desires for us. You can do this right this minute! Stop and pray to the living and loving God.
[O U R M O M E N T O F P R A Y E R]
We hear sometimes hear a call to “repent and believe!” And too often we only think of “repent” as “turning away from sin” (something that we’ve tried to do, again and again, as if we are straightening up our lives and making ourselves finally acceptable to God). But sin has a powerful allure, and again and again we fail. So think of repentance in this way: Repent means “turn.” When God and His love for us becomes a more powerful attraction to us, more attractive than sin (or sin becomes repulsive to us but we find ourself powerless to break its tie) then we turn to God. (And in doing so, we are turning away from sin.) And find in Him acceptance and power to live the life He desires for us. Have you turned to God, and said to Him, “YES!”?
If you want to talk to a pastor about questions you still have about these things, please feel free to call Rev. David Cott or Rev. Don Underwood at 770-786-6027. We’d love to talk with you!
