Answers

Q:

A Christian friend of mine keeps telling me I need to get Jesus and get the Holy Spirit, but I don't even know what she's talking about because I didn't grow up in a religious home. Maybe you can help me.


A:

I’m thankful your friend wants to help you spiritually, and I hope you won’t feel put off by her concern or ignore what she’s saying. But God is even more concerned for your spiritual welfare than she is, and the greatest discovery you can ever make is that He loves you and wants to come into your life.

You see, God created us and made us to walk with Him–but something went wrong, and now we are cut off from God. That “something” is what the Bible calls “sin,” and our sins are what separate us from God. This is true for every person who walks on this earth, and our greatest need–your greatest need, my greatest need–is to have our sins forgiven, and our relationship with God restored.

Is this possible? Yes! It’s possible because God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to make our forgiveness possible. He was innocent, but when He died on the cross all our sins were placed on Him, and He took the punishment we deserved. We deserved to die for our sins, but Jesus died in our place.

Now God offers us forgiveness as a free gift–and when we open our hearts to Christ, God Himself comes to live within us by His Holy Spirit. In Christ, the Bible says, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). By a simple prayer of faith ask God to forgive you, and for Christ to come into your life by His Spirit–and He will.