We live in a world of conflicts and crises. Every day we hear of war, poverty, crime, sickness, natural disasters, and economic downturns.
Many of us face trouble in our personal lives, too—broken relationships, practical worries, and burdensome commitments.
Why is life...
...so difficult?
Yet we see glimpses of goodness around us. We may have experienced good times ourselves, at some point. That makes it even more frustrating, doesn’t it? Knowing that things can be better . . .
. . .yet seeing that they aren’t.
At the end of the day, what we need is
Hope
hope for a way out of our troubles,
hope for a solution to all our problems,
hope for a better life to come.
Finding Hope
The Bible tells us that there is only one Creator God who made everything and who seeks a relationship with mankind. He placed the first man and woman in a beautiful garden filled with many good things that they could eat, allowed them to roam freely, and often met and spoke with them.
God created us to have a loving relationship with him. That’s why he created human beings with feelings and emotions, and the desire and ability to love and be loved—characteristics that reflect his own attributes.
For us to love truly, however, we need to act rightly. Hence, God also created men and women with an instinct to do what is morally and ethically right, reflecting his own nature as a good, holy, and just God.
Because God is good, the world he made was good. Mankind had a good relationship with God and each other, and everything was perfect.
God created us to have a loving relationship with him. That’s why he created human beings with feelings and emotions, and the desire and ability to love and be loved—characteristics that reflect his own attributes.
For us to love truly, however, we need to act rightly. Hence, God also created men and women with an instinct to do what is morally and ethically right, reflecting his own nature as a good, holy, and just God.
Because God is good, the world he made was good.
Mankind had a good relationship with God and each other, and everything was perfect.
Then it all went
wrong.
When God created Adam and Eve, he wanted them to love him out of their own free will. In the garden where they lived, this option came in the form of a tree. Adam and Eve were told that they could eat from any other tree except this one—it gave them the option to obey or defy God.
But they disobeyed and did the one thing that God told them not to do—eat the fruit of that very tree. As a result, Adam and Eve introduced sin into the world.
Sin means missing God’s perfect standard. When Adam and Eve decided to disobey him, they were rejecting God’s authority. This affected succeeding generations as well. The couple’s children took on their parents’ attitude of rebellion, and also began to do what was morally and ethically wrong.
Today, we see evidence of this in the broken relationships we have with God and each other. Instead of love, security, and trust, we experience fear, anger, and bitterness. We see people struggling against God and other forms of authority, and people hating and ill-treating one another.
Another consequence of sin was death. God had warned Adam and Eve that if they ate from the tree, they would die. When they decided to rebel against him, they would destroy their perfect communion with him—the source of eternal life.
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This death would be both physical and spiritual. Because we are physical beings affected by sin, our bodies will eventually break down and die. But because we are also spiritual beings, our souls will be separated eternally from God. Being rebellious and sinful, we cannot return to the presence of a holy, just, and righteous God. We will be held accountable for our own sins.
The Bible puts this in simple terms.
“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”, it observes, so “the wages of sin is [eternal]
death
”
The breakdown of the relationship also affects our present lives. Like someone who is lost, we feel purposeless and helpless. While we may not be fully aware of the reason for our despair, deep down we feel a loss—a result of being estranged from God.
Since mankind first broke away from God, we have been trying to fix the problem of sin and its effects. We try to prevent disease and delay death with science and medicine. We try to keep society morally upright by enforcing the rule of law, and teaching people ethical behaviour. And we try to assuage our guilt and win favour with the divine by doing good deeds and observing religious codes.
But, we haven’t really succeeded, have we?
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The controlling power of sin is like that of drug addiction. It dominates us and forces us to keep doing wrong, even when we don’t want to. Sin influences our decisions and actions and makes it much harder to do right and easier to do wrong. It becomes more natural to rebel against God than to obey him.
God wants to put us right with him. Because he is a merciful God, he wants to forgive and welcome us back into his arms.
But there’s a slight problem. You see, God, being righteous and holy, can’t just close a blind eye to our sin and say, “Forget it, it is okay.” He cannot excuse our sin and pretend it didn’t happen. If God were to simply gloss over our sin, it would betray his very nature as a good and holy God.
But God provided a way.
While his law requires man to pay the debt for his sin, it also allows for someone else to pay this debt on our behalf. This person, however, cannot have a debt of his own; it has to be someone who has no sin to account for.
God sent his own son, Jesus Christ, to pay this debt. About 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to earth in the form of a human being. He was crucified on a cross and buried in a tomb after he died.
The sacrifice was possible because Jesus was both divine and human. As God’s son, he was good and perfect, and didn’t have to account for any sin of his own. Because he died as man, he represented us fully in taking the punishment. The Bible says this about Jesus: “But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing” (Galatians 3:13).
Jesus rose to life on the third day, appearing to hundreds of witnesses before he was taken back up to heaven. Sin brought death to man, but now, Jesus had conquered death.
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The Bible tells us that if we accept Jesus’ offer of forgiveness by believing that he died on our behalf, we will be pardoned of our sin and be reconciled with God.
What’s more, this relationship will last forever. Nothing will separate us from God—not even death.
This is the hope that we can have if we believe that Jesus came to earth, died, and rose to life, and if we follow and acknowledge him as our Lord and Saviour. The Bible says: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The Father of Jesus is not only a good, loving God, but also a God of grace. This means that there are no conditions or requirements to receive the gift of his son and the pardon for your sin. You don’t have to be “good”, nor do you have to earn salvation with your own effort; you just have to rely on God to save you. All you have to do is to admit to God that you have sinned and need his forgiveness; believe that Jesus came to die in your place so that you can be put right with God; and follow him as your Lord and Saviour. It’s as simple as that!
The Bible says:
“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”
When you turn to
JESUS
several wonderful things happen.
- You will receive God’s forgiveness for your sin. By paying your debt, Jesus reconciles you to God, so that you can be fully accepted by him.
- God promises to make you his own son or daughter and now you can enter confidently into his presence. You can live secure in the knowledge that God loves you for who you are, no matter what you have done in the past or how imperfect you may be because Jesus’ death has paid for all your sins.
- He will help you change your ways and learn to live according to his holy standard.
This relationship will go on forever—even after we die. This means that you will no longer need to fear death. You can live with the assurance that physical death will bring you directly into God’s presence—a place of perfection.
In fact, this relationship starts now, EVEN IN THIS LIFE.
Becoming a Christian does not necessarily mean that all your problems will disappear immediately. You will still have to deal with the challenges of daily life and other struggles that arise from living in a broken, sinful world. But there is a difference now: you can face all these challenges with God, who has promised to stay with you by living in your heart. You will be able to go to him for help anytime, anywhere, and he will be walking alongside you on life’s journey, encouraging, strengthening, reminding, and helping you to become the person he wants you to be. You can now lean on God who created the world and remains in full control of events.
What all this means is that you will have hope. Life will no longer be aimless and meaningless; instead, you will live with assurance, purpose, and the promise of eternal life after physical death.
Are you ready to follow
Jesus?
If you are, find a quiet place where you can tell God personally that you accept his offer of forgiveness by believing in his son Jesus, that he died for you on the cross and rose to life, and that you are ready to accept him as your Lord and Saviour. God is always listening, so all you have to do is to speak to him as if he was in front of you. If it is possible, find a Christian friend to pray with you and be a witness.
You will find a prayer below which takes you through the main points. The words are only a guide; what is important is your heart—how sincere you are—for that is all that matters to God.
Tap here to pray
I believe that Jesus is your Son,
that he died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins,
and that he rose from the dead to prove it.
Now I accept your offer of full forgiveness and eternal life.
I accept Jesus as your gift for my salvation,
and I want to follow him.
