1. God has a plan for your life. "God in heaven appoints each person's work"
(John 3:27). God created you and has good plans for your life. To know
those plans, you must know God personally.
2. God's plan gives meaning. "Jesus replied, 'I am the bread of life. No one
who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never
thirst'" (John 6:35). Many people seek meaning and purpose for their life.
But they never find it because they look for meaning in the wrong things and
the wrong people. When you follow God's plans for your life, the most
important of which is to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you will find
meaning and purpose in all that you do.
3. God's plan gives direction. "Jesus said to the people, 'I am the light of
the world. If you follow me, you won't be stumbling through the darkness,
because you will have the light that leads to life'" (John 8:12). Without
God's direction, you may not know what to do with your life. You may try a
lot of things, hoping to find meaning in each one. But if you have God in
your life, he will lead you and show you how to make your life count for him
and his kingdom.
4. God's plan brings peace. "I am leaving you with a gift - peace of mind and
heart. And the peace I give isn't like the peace the world gives. So don't
be troubled or afraid" (John 14:27). When you follow Jesus as your Lord and
Savior, you will be at peace with God. You will also be filled with God's
peace. So when troubles come, you will be able to have peace as you endure
hardships.
5. God's plan for you to live with him in heaven. "For God so loved the world
that he have his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not
perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Before Adam and Eve sinned
(Genesis 3), they had a good relationship with God. Therefore, they were able
to come into God's physical presence. But after they sinned, they lost that
relationship and could no longer come into God's physical prescence. Sin had
seperated them and the entire human race, including you, from God. But God
did not want sin to keep people from having a relationship with him. So he
provided a way in which people could be cleansed of their sins and live with
him in heaven forever. He gave his only Son, Jesus, as the perfect payment
for everyone's sins.
Here are three things you must do in order to know Jesus personally as your
Lord and Savior.
1. Recognize that you are a sinner. "For all have sinned; all fall short of
God's glorious standard" (Romans 3:23). "As the Scriptures say, 'No one is
good - not even one'" (Romans 3:10). Because everyone is a sinner, no one
deserves eternal life with God in heaven. In addition, no one can work hard
enough to earn this life. Instead, God gives eternal life to everyone who
believes that Jesus Christ is his Son. Before you can appreciate what Jesus
has done for you, you need to recognize that you are a sinner in need of God's
forgiveness. If you never acknowledge this, you will never accept God's
forgiveness for your sins; and you will never enter into heaven.
2. Ask Jesus to forgive you. "Yet now he has brought you back as his friends.
He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a
result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and
blameless as you stand before him without a single fault" (Colossians 1:22).
If you recognize that you are a sinner, then you may be ready to ask Jesus to
forgive you. Do you believe that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, who died
to pay for your sins? If you do, and you have never thanked Christ for dying
for you, think him right now in a simple prayer. Pray, "Lord, I thank you for
paying for the sins I have committed. I give my life to you. Teach me the
right way to live. Amen."
3. Turn away from your sins. "Those who have been born into God's family do
not sin, because God's life is in them. So they can't keep on sinning,
because they have been born of God" (1 John 3:9). As a Christian, you may sin
from time to time. But you should not continue to live a sinful lifestyle.
Putting your faith in Jesus means that you are leaving behind your old, sinful
nature. It also means that you are living to please God. You can live to
please God by obeying the commands he has given everyone in the Bible. If you
obey God, you can be sure that you are a Christian and will one day have
eternal life in heaven.