None of us are born as Christians. That may sound shocking but it is true! Being born in a Christian country does not make us a Christian. To help us understand this, someone has joked that being born in a garage would not make us a car! Even being born to devout Christian parents does not make us a Christian. Nor does attending church regularly make us a Christian automatically.
So how do we become a Christian?
Becoming a Christian is more than simply starting to believe that God exists. A Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ. Each ones of us decides for ourselves whether we will believe and trust in Jesus or not. God invites each of us to turn away from everything that we know to be wrong and to turn to him. Jesus died on the cross to pay the price for all our wrongdoing. We can choose to accept that or to reject it and to bear the consequences.
Becoming a Christian is not about trying to be good enough to go to heaven or to earn forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. We can only become a Christian when we realise that we will never be good enough and we cannot earn forgiveness. Only then will we be prepared to accept God’s way which is to trust that Jesus bore the penalty for our wrongdoing when he died on the cross. Then we can be certain of our place in heaven because it depends on Jesus and not on us.
Here is a simple prayer for anyone who wants to become a Christian:
Jesus, thank you for dying for me; I am sorry for the wrong I have done; Please forgive me and accept me; Help me live a new life with you.
If you have prayed that prayer sincerely then you have started as a Christian. Each Sunday in church we seek to help and encourage one another in our lives as followers of Jesus. You would be very welcome to join us – why not give it a try?