I would not be doing what I set out to do if I didn’t share the single most profound truth I know—God is perfect and He loves you.
The Plan
The Holy Bible tells us that God had a plan before He ever created the world. As best I can, I will try to explain that plan as I understand it, using the Bible as my guide.
God is the Creator. He has the power to make anything He chooses. He could have created human beings who were incapable of doing wrong, if that had been His desire. But He gave us the ability to choose how we live and whether or not we will obey Him.
If God had made us incapable of choosing otherwise, we would have no real choice in the matter. We would be more like robots, simply doing what we were programmed to do.
But God’s plan involved something far greater than that.
God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. As the Bible explains in John 1, God came in the flesh and lived among us as a man. Yet He was without sin—a life none of us could live, no matter how hard we try.
As Romans 3:23 tells us, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
If you are anything like me, you may be wondering, Why would God do that? Why would He go to such lengths for us?
Not only does God love us, but the Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). He wants us to be with Him forever.
But there is a problem. God is holy and perfect, and we are not. We have all sinned. The Bible teaches us that God is holy and that our sin separates us from Him. We cannot make ourselves perfect or erase the wrong things we have done.
What Is Sin?
The word sin is often illustrated as missing the mark, like an archer who aims at a target but falls short. In Romans 3:23, the Bible puts it this way: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”
That is why Jesus came. We could not pay the price for our sins and make ourselves right with God through our own efforts.
Jesus did what we could never do for ourselves. He lived a sinless life and gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sins.
As 1 Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
The Gift
It is not enough simply to know these things. We must respond to them.
How?
We must accept His good and perfect gift.
What is that gift? It is salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Think about what that means. God knows we are not perfect. He knows we have sinned and that we cannot undo our past or make ourselves worthy of Heaven through our own efforts. Yet He loves us so much that He provided a way for us to be forgiven and reconciled to Him.
The way is Jesus Christ.
But how do we accept this gift?
The Bible tells us in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
We must believe in Jesus Christ, putting our faith in Him. We must recognize that we have sinned, that we need a Savior, and that Jesus died for our sins and rose again. We cannot earn this gift. A gift, by its very nature, is something given, not something we purchase or deserve.
Ephesians 2:8–9 explains it beautifully:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Notice that it says salvation is the gift of God. We cannot buy it, earn it, or claim that we deserve it. We receive it by faith through God's grace.
Does that mean we can simply say we believe and then live however we please? No.
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” (James 2:19)
Genuine faith changes us. When we understand what God has done for us, our response should be to love Him, seek His will, and try to live in a way that pleases Him.
We will still make mistakes, but we no longer have to pretend that we are perfect or try to save ourselves through our own goodness.
Will we mess up after we accept God's gift of salvation? Yes, but 1 John 1:9 gives us this promise:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
That is the beauty of God's gift. He does not ask us to become perfect before we come to Him. We come to Him recognizing that we are not perfect and trusting in the One who is.
God has offered us something we could never provide for ourselves: forgiveness, reconciliation with Him, and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
The gift is offered. The question is whether we will receive it.
It is my most sincere hope that you will do as I have done and receive this gift.
After reading this post, you may have questions. In future posts, I will do my best to answer them using the Holy Bible as my guide, sharing my understanding of what it teaches.