“I don’t deserve to be forgiven.” “How can God love me when I’ve done what I have done?” “I don’t even go to church, or pray like I should.” “Heaven is for religious people. I’m not religious.” Have you ever heard these? Have you ever said these? I’m sure that several of you have. I know that I have both heard and said these things.
There was a time that I struggled with my salvation. There was a time that I struggled with believing that Jesus could love me. My father figure used to always say, “There are two teams. God‘s and Satan‘s.” I know that to be right because I have played on both of them. I have been on both sides. And there’s no way that I deserve to be loved by Jesus. Actually, none of us do. But that’s what is amazing about God. His love and grace surpasses anything that we can ever dream or imagine. We can’t earn it. We can’t pay for it. We can’t pretend we have it.
How do we get it then? I think the answer is pretty simple. We have to believe. We have to believe that Jesus is the key to salvation. He is the way. No way around it. He made the sacrifice for us. He paved the way. Jesus did that. Plain and simple. He came to earth to show us how to serve. And he died for our sins. I remember my son saying something sometime that resonated with me. I probably won’t get it Word for Word. But this is the gist of it: “God loves you. God loves us all. And he’s waiting for you to love him. He’s there. If you’re hearing anything different, you are listening to the wrong people.” Wow! He is spot on. If people are telling you different, they are the wrong people. And if you believe anything different, you are wrong. Just as I was. God does love you. He loves me. He loves everyone. And he’s waiting. He always has been. He always will.
