When did you first start following Jesus?
I grew up going to church. I was baptized when I was 12 years old. But that's not when I started following Jesus.
I started following Him when I was 31 years old. Two years ago.
I started following Him when I realized that He loved me, that my way was getting me nowhere, that I was empty and broken, that maybe, just maybe, His plan was actually for my good. So I stopped doing things my way. I decided to trust His way.
Does that mean I stopped sinning or became less broken when I started following Him? No. I'm still broken and as hard as I try I can't stop sinning. It means that in the midst of my sin and brokenness, I can rest in His strength and His grace. He doesn't expect me to be perfect. He just wants me to follow and trust.
So when was I actually "saved"? When I was 12 years old and prayed a prayer and got baptized? Or when I was 31? Honestly, I don't know. But I think that being saved by God has little to do with a prayer you prayed decades ago and much more to do wtih dying to yourself and following Him on a DAILY basis. Mathew 24:14 says that only those who persevere to the end will be saved.
It is evidence of God's faithfulness that as many times as I turned my back on Him, He never left me. He pursued me when I had no interest in Him. It is by his grace that I am even able to love him.
If you find yourself not following Jesus, not fighting every day, not begging him to change every dark corner of your heart, then you can start today. It just starts with a single step, a single prayer. Follow Him. He is worth it.
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Mathew 10:39
I grew up going to church. I was baptized when I was 12 years old. But that's not when I started following Jesus.
I started following Him when I was 31 years old. Two years ago.
I started following Him when I realized that He loved me, that my way was getting me nowhere, that I was empty and broken, that maybe, just maybe, His plan was actually for my good. So I stopped doing things my way. I decided to trust His way.
Does that mean I stopped sinning or became less broken when I started following Him? No. I'm still broken and as hard as I try I can't stop sinning. It means that in the midst of my sin and brokenness, I can rest in His strength and His grace. He doesn't expect me to be perfect. He just wants me to follow and trust.
So when was I actually "saved"? When I was 12 years old and prayed a prayer and got baptized? Or when I was 31? Honestly, I don't know. But I think that being saved by God has little to do with a prayer you prayed decades ago and much more to do wtih dying to yourself and following Him on a DAILY basis. Mathew 24:14 says that only those who persevere to the end will be saved.
It is evidence of God's faithfulness that as many times as I turned my back on Him, He never left me. He pursued me when I had no interest in Him. It is by his grace that I am even able to love him.
If you find yourself not following Jesus, not fighting every day, not begging him to change every dark corner of your heart, then you can start today. It just starts with a single step, a single prayer. Follow Him. He is worth it.
"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Mathew 10:39
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