What does it mean, to become a Christian? And why do you need to become one? If there is a God, what is He like? Why did Jesus have to die for you? If you become a Christian what changes will that make to your life?
If you are asking questions like these, you are already on the road to finding answers. Without asking questions, we do not seek, and if we do not seek, we never find what we are looking for. In James 4:8 in the Bible there is a wonderful promise, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”. Note that you must want to seek, so that you can find. And you had better be ready to discover answers that will radically change your life and your destiny! Actually, if you are drawing near to God, that is only because the Holy Spirit has already begun to work in your mind and heart; that dissatisfaction you feel is because - without new birth - you are a spiritual orphan. God our Father wants to adopt you into His family because He loves you.
The night I became a Christian I was determined not to surrender my worthless independence. I was empty and miserable, but very stubborn and proud. It had all begun several weeks before, when two former school friends and a young lady called for me on a Sunday to take me for a drive. I was very wary of them, but I had nothing better to do so I agreed, and this became a weekly fixture. I must admit that my lifestyle and thinking were very far from God at that time but, because of His great love, He had other plans for me!
My two former schoolmates were quite quiet during these trips, but I found myself becoming very intrigued by what the young lady (my future wife) had to say. She spoke of God as a real Presence in her life, someone who listened to her and spoke to her every day. Either she was crazy, or my agnostic doubts would have to go in the bin! Eventually, they persuaded me to go to an evangelistic service in Portadown, and I grudgingly agreed, muttering under my breath, “They’re not going to get me”. They didn’t, but God did!
As I entered the old, unattractive hall I found myself separated from the others, seated self-consciously on the left-hand side facing the front. I had prayed a week before, “God, if you are real, please reveal yourself to me”. I do not know what I expected, if anything, but as the preacher told the story of four men who brought a paralysed man to Jesus for healing, I realised that inside I was paralysed. To my astonishment I began to feel God’s presence in the hall – He was real after all, and He was answering my unbelieving prayer! I asked Him, quietly, “What is there between you and me?” At this point you need to know that there were no Christians in my immediate family, and I knew nothing about the Bible, so God in His great mercy met me where I was, in a way that I could understand. He showed me a picture of a brick wall, with the word “PRIDE” painted on the bricks, like graffiti. Then and there I quietly asked God to remove the wall and come into my life. Later, I was told what had happened, in biblical terms. I had never before known such joy, peace and inner cleansing!
So how do you become a Christian? There are many routes to salvation, as the Holy Spirit graciously prepares us in many ways to submit to the truth; but there is only one doorway into salvation and God’s family. Jesus describes Himself as the gate or doorway of the sheepfold (a picture of the church), and we can only enter God’s kingdom by Him. What do you need to do? If you have a Bible, read John 1:12-13. If you do not have a Bible, let me tell you that the Bible says that there are two things you need to do, to become a Christian. You need to ask God to forgive your sin, as I did that night many years ago; and you need to ask Jesus to come into your heart, believing that He died on a cross to pay the penalty for your sin. But when you pray, mean it with all your heart because, if you are serious, your life will never be the same again. As Jesus promises in John 1:13, you will be “born again”; you will become a new person, a new creation.
I became a new creation over forty years ago, and it is the best thing that ever happened to me.