“Why?” Children can drive their parents crazy with this question. I know I did. It just goes to show that we have an ingrained need to find the purpose of everything. It’s no different with Christianity. Learning the reason why we need Christ is fundamental to becoming his follower.
A cursory glance at society is enough to give us a clue to the answer. The world is in a huge mess, and the reason is human beings (it’s certainly not the animals’ fault). I’m not going to point the finger at anyone else – I know what’s in my heart, and it’s not pretty. Sometimes I’m appalled by my own thoughts.
Going back to the example of children for a moment, we don’t need to teach them to be selfish and disobedient, do we? Unfortunately, such behavior comes very naturally to them. That’s because of what the Bible calls sin. We have an inborn tendency to act in selfish and harmful ways. We’ve all done things we know are wrong. We may be able to curb our impulses at times, but no one can control them all the time.
It’s easy to see the result of our propensity to sin. Wars, oppression, pollution, genocide, slavery – the list goes on and on. Not only has it damaged our planet and ruined our connection with other human beings, but it has destroyed our relationship with God. You see, our Creator is holy, and our sin is a barrier to us having friendly relations with him. His holiness won’t allow it.
God could have left us in this hopeless state – living on a planet full of misery, followed by an eternity without him. But he had a plan of rescue. To be effective, the solution had to address the root of the problem: sin. That is why our Creator became a man, Jesus, so he could pay the penalty for sin—death—in our place. Through the cross, he satisfied God’s justice and enabled us to be forgiven, opening the door to reconciliation.
Let me illustrate this with a story. There once lived a judge known for his honesty and fairness. Unfortunately, his son fell in with the wrong crowd and rebelled. One day, while attempting to rob a store, he killed the shop owner. When brought before his heartbroken father, the judge had no choice but to follow the law and condemn his son to death. But he then did the most unusual thing. He came down from his bench, took off his robe, and offered to take the penalty upon himself. This is what God did for us.
Yes, I admit that no illustration is perfect, and neither is this one. No human court would allow a judge to behave this way. Nonetheless, it helps us better imagine the incredible message of the Gospel: our judge—Jesus—willingly bore the cost for our guilt.
Why do we need Jesus? To reconcile with our Creator. It’s not about joining a religion, attending services at a church, or following a moral code. It’s the recognition that Jesus is the only one who can remove the barrier of sin that separates us from God. It’s the understanding that this world is not the entirety of our existence, so we better be prepared for what comes next. It’s all about having a relationship with God.
An obvious question comes to mind: “How then can we become a Christian?” First of all, no one is born into Christianity. Since we’re incapable of removing the stain of sin on our own, we can only receive what God has done for us by believing in the saving power of Jesus. Faith can be a nebulous concept, so I’ll explain it in several related ways: trust, belief, surrender, and repentance. It’s like giving God the steering wheel of our lives.
Let me show you this through my own experience. I grew up in the church, so I learned about Jesus and the Gospel from the cradle. That didn’t make me a Christian. The time came when I realized I knew a lot about God, but I didn’t know God. There’s a big difference. For example, I can know a lot about a movie star, let’s say Meryl Streep, but that doesn’t mean I’ve ever met her personally.
I finally understood that I had never asked Jesus to save me nor chosen to follow him. I immediately decided to fix this, so I prayed. I don’t remember the words, but they weren’t the important part. What mattered was that I repented of my sin and expressed my faith in Christ and my desire to follow him.
At that moment, I started my relationship with God, and everything changed. No, I didn’t become perfect overnight (I wish), but I noticed a shift in my attitudes and actions. For example, I stopped using foul language, not because anyone forced me, but because I didn’t want to. God started the lifelong process of making me a better person. When he enters our lives, we can’t help but change.
Yes, God wants Christians to worship him at church and abide by his moral standards, but those things don’t make us a Christian. We first need to reconcile with God through our faith in Jesus, and then we go to church and lead a godly life out of love and devotion. Most of all, God wants a relationship with us based on love, where we can enjoy each other’s presence and friendship.
So why do we need Jesus? Because someday we’ll face our Creator to give an account for our lives. He’s done everything necessary to be able to welcome us with open arms. He loves us so much that he’s removed the barrier that keeps us from his presence forever and under his punishment. It’s to our benefit to take advantage of his offer, but the choice is ours.
Have you accepted his offer?