"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Roman 10:9-10Let me first give you some background of when I was growing up. My parents did not go to church, so my only exposure was from the families of my neighborhood friends. My sisters and I were invited to go to church with them as we were growing up. I went quite often and even won a pin that had a mustard seed in it for having perfect attendance in Sunday school for 1 year. I still have that pin today. I like to think of that mustard seed as to represent the seeds of God's Word that was sown in my heart for a love for God.
At nine years of age, my brother was born, and my Mother felt the need to have all four of her children baptized, which she did in a church not far from us. I continued going to these various churches as I grew up. When I met Steve as a high school senior and started dating him, he took me to the church that his family went to, a Lutheran church. I attended there and even went through classes to become a member of that church. Then Steve & I married and went to California where he was stationed in the Navy. We started a family, and when he got out of the Navy, we resided back in Ohio. For a while we attended this church again and even had Angie baptized there as an infant.
In thinking about Heaven, and whether I would go there when I died, I thought that I would. I thought that going to Heaven was like seeing your life on a set of balances--if the good outweighed the bad, then I would be allowed to enter into God's Heaven. I was baptized as a child and thought that made everything OK, too. And I thought at that time that I was a pretty good person and would surely be ushered into Heaven at that time of my life.
In 1972, Steve & I bought a house in a new subdivision of town. In our new neighborhood, I met a lady there, Natalie was her name, who seemed very much different from myself. I could not put my finger on it, but I knew there was something different about her. Well, in those younger days, we would have parties at different new neighbor's houses, just getting to know one another better. I noticed that Natalie never drank anything but soft drinks, and I never heard a swear word come out of her mouth. Once again there was that difference between Natalie and me, but I still didn't know what it was. She had told me that she went to a Baptist church in Urbana, but I had gone to church also growing up and some in the Lutheran church even after Angie and David were born. But still I knew there was a difference between Natalie and me.
During the summer of 1974, when Angie and David were 4 and 2 years old, Natalie had invited them to go up to her church every day for a week for vacation Bible school. This was something that was held every year during the summer, and I remembered as a child going to VBS (vacation Bible school) and knew my children would enjoy it as I did years ago. Then on the Sunday following the week of VBS, I was invited to attend the church for a program for the children. I went with Natalie and another neighbor, Pam, whose daughter also attended VBS that week. In thinking back on that day, which I will never forget, I can remember Pastor Kaffenbarger, Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, speaking about how you must be saved to be able to go to Heaven. Well, I listened to all that he had to say; and when the service was nearly over, they had everyone bow their heads. The Pastor asked if there was anyone there who wanted to be saved. Well, I was confused, and turned to Pam saying, "Does he mean that we have been baptized... have taken communion... or was a member of a church?" Since she was a Methodist, I thought she was a Christian as well, but she was not and didn't know any more than I did at the time. So I dismissed it for the moment, but can remember in my heart how funny I had felt, but did not know why.
On the way home, I told Natalie how strange I was feeling inside and asked her about what the pastor was preaching about. She explained to me how that Jesus had died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins, that he rose from the dead, and is alive today. And that if I would take him as my personal Savior, I would be able to go to Heaven. I told her that I had always believed in God and Jesus from a little child. But that was not the belief that she was talking about. The belief that I had was only mental assent that yes, Jesus did exist. You see, I had always thought that I would go to Heaven. But the thing I didn't realize was that all of the good things I had done in my lifetime had nothing to do with me going to heaven or not. And being a member of a church, being baptized, giving money to the church--none of these things had anything to do with me going to Heaven, either. You see, I found out that it was my sin that was going to keep me out of Heaven, and that I could do nothing that could change that. I had come to the place in my life of knowing for the first that I was not going to Heaven after all. And the thought of spending an eternity in Hell scared me to death. I believe there must be millions of people in the world who are now thinking the same as I did for years, trusting in what they have done in their lives to merit them an eternal life in Heaven.
How was I going to get to Heaven then? She again explained to me that the payment for my sins was already taken care of nearly 2,000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. Only Jesus, who was the perfect Son of God, could pay for our sins and He did so with such GREAT LOVE!! He offers salvation to all of us as a free gift. But a gift is not yours until you accept it for yourself. It is like Christmas. There are presents under the tree with your name on it; but until you take one and open it for yourself, it does not become yours. That is the same way with God's gift. It becomes yours when you realize that you are a sinner and that your sin separates you from God and Heaven. For the first time in my life, I realized that, and prayed and told Jesus that yes, I did realize that I was a sinner, and that I believed that He paid the penalty (which was death and Hell), for my sin. And that I had accepted His payment and wanted Him to be my personal Savior. That was the day I became a Christian and knew for sure that I was going to Heaven. The Bible tells us that "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things pass away, behold all things are become new" II Corinthians 5:17.
On August 25, 1974, I became a NEW person!! Steve then saw a different wife, a new person, like Natalie. Now , I finally knew what the difference between us was. It was JESUS!!! And it wasn't long before Steve, too, accepted God's free gift of salvation in January, 1975.
If you don't have this special relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, then I would like to invite you to accept God's free gift of salvation, too!! I only know that I was blinded to the truths in God's Word for years. But now I have been set free and on my way to Heaven. , God's gift of love to ALL!!!
"All
that the Father giveth me shall come to me;
and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37
Won't you please
go to the "FREE GIFT" page and learn how you, too,
can accept the most wonderful gift in the world.
"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."
John 3:16
Song now playing: "One Moment in Time"