Wednesday, October 18, 2006

My Debt - Paid In FULL

The other day someone in one of my classes asked me why I became a Christian. Thoughts quickly raced through my head. My response was: Before I became a Christian I was a self-righteous puke who thought by living a certain way I would be accepted by God. I repeatedly failed to meet that standard – my own standard. Oh, how much more did I fail to meet God’s standard – Holiness/Righteousness. I was reminded that Jesus Christ paid the full penalty for the sins of those who would believe in Him. I gave my life over to Christ because I saw what my life was like when I had control; it was a mess. I realized the things that I thought were “messed up” or “marred” are actually sin against a holy God. Pride, Deceit, Lust, Un-forgiveness, Self-Righteousness, Disobedience; all of these sins stemmed from me dethroning God of his proper place as ruler and King and exalting myself to that place. I asked God to forgive me for living so long with Brian being king and to change my heart to one that desires to long after Him. I then explained that God exposed me as a sinner and the only one who could measure up to God's standard is his son, Jesus. Through Christ’s death – my sin was poured out on Jesus and his life and righteousness covered me. So now when God looks at me, he sees Christ’s righteousness.

Because of what Christ did on the cross and God’s love, I read the bible to get to know the God that called me into adoption as His son, I pray to grow closer to Him and ask that He will continue to expose sin in my life, I have fellowship with His people (the Church), and tell people about His saving grace. I am accepted by Him, therefore I work towards seeing Him glorified. I still sin and I hate it more than ever. And yes, I daily need a savior more than you can imagine. All praise be to Jesus Christ.


Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 comments:

rustypth said...

Brian, way to be faithful in preaching the gospel to your classmate. The gospel is such wonderful wonderful news

JJ Brenner said...

A-Freaking-men!

Glad to hear that you capitalized on a great opportunity to share the gospel. It doesn't get any better than when people ask you, "Would you please tell me about Jesus?"