How To Become A Christian

God loves you and wants you to have peace in your soul and a relationship with Him. But how do you do that?

I’m going to simplify it to what the Bible clearly says:

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’ 
Mark 1:15

Repent

You need to realise that you are a sinner and have done wrong things. We have all done wrong, like lying, stealing, or even not loving as we should. God is a holy God, and like a just judge who would have to punish someone who broke the law, God also has to punish sin.

‘The wages of sin is death’ which means that because of your sin you are headed for eternal punishment in hell.

But God loves you! He doesn’t want you to end up there, so He has provided a way out. However the first step in taking that way out is to repent. You need to say sorry to God for your sins, and ask for His forgiveness.

You also need to commit to turning your life around – repentance means a change of direction. So instead of following your own selfish desires, this means that you want to follow God’s ways instead.

Believe

God is just, so has to punish sin. Yet He also loves us and doesn’t want us to end up in hell. So instead He sent His only Son to earth to take our punishment for us.

It’s a bit like if you had to either pay a fine of £5000 or go to jail for life, but since you are penniless you know you will have to spend your life in jail. However a friend comes along and pays your whole fine for you, and you don’t have to pay it back – it’s a free gift.

Jesus Christ did this for us, dying on the cross for our sin. He was buried and then God raised Him from the dead, and in the same way we can have new life through Him.

This means that we will be a new creation here on earth, but also can have eternal life in heaven with a new body and soul. ‘The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 
John 3:16

We need to repent and believe. That means we need to believe that Jesus Christ did this for us, died for our sins, and that if we ask God for forgiveness He will give it to us because of what Christ did.
Here is a prayer you can pray to God – the prayer itself doesn’t save you, but if you truly and sincerely believe these things as you pray them, you can be saved.

“God, I know I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins, and I pray that You would forgive me. Right now, I turn from my sins and give my life to you. Thank You for saving me. Amen.”



If you want to know more about this before you commit, please click on these links from the websites of two great evangelists:

4 Steps To Peace with God

How To Know God

You are also welcome to e-mail me if you have more questions. And if you do pray this prayer and become a Christian I would love to hear from you!