What I Value Most

While growing up Dad would tell me, "If Jesus is real, make him appear in this chair" while all along, Mom took me to church three times each week. Dad was not a follower of Christ and his focus was on getting rich. Often Dad was hostile to Christianity. Mom was a follower of Christ and shared with me God's plan from John 3:16 that God loved me so much that He sent His son Jesus to die for my sins, and I could have eternal life through Christ. Mom's focus was to guide my brother and me to become Christian men.

As a child I was not concerned about death, but focused on me, having fun, and getting rich. Mom taught me that I had sinned and fell short of God's perfect standard (Romans 3:23) and that without Christ my eternal destiny was not Heaven, but Hell. I learned from Mom that God offers to save us from Hell, because while we were sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). In 1973, at age 11, in our living room with tears in my eyes and Mom beside me, I got down on my knees and repented of my sins and asked Jesus to be Lord of my life. Romans 10:9 tells us that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.

My journey following Christ began slowly, but accelerated in college. I still sin, but my focus is on being a follower of Christ and sharing the Gospel. On a 1980 summer mission trip in South Dakota, while going door to door with a young pastor and watching him share Christ, I learned that the single most important thing I can do for another person is to tell them about Jesus. In 1981, I was a summer missionary in Montana and the highlight was seeing a college student, who was not a follower of Christ, commit to make Jesus Lord of his life. In 1997, in the last week of Dad's life after hearing my brother and me share Christ repeatedly, Dad accepted Christ. In John 5:24 Jesus says, "Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8 that we are saved from Hell by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by our works or our good deeds and it is the gift of God. Will you follow and accept this free gift of eternal life in Heaven through Christ Jesus and be saved from eternity in Hell?

Do you want "more to life?" Then put your trust and faith in Jesus Christ today.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. John 5:24

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9