Before Jesus Changed My Life
I grew up going to church regularly and was baptized as an infant at my Lutheran church. I never really enjoyed going to Sunday school, and it was boring to me. I also didn’t have a role model that showed me what a true man of God is because my dad has been an alcoholic all my life. Growing up around him, as the head of the household, faith wasn’t the top priority for him. This made life difficult, and I never had the best understanding of who Jesus was. Throughout grade school, I wasn’t praying or reading the Word, and I went off my path. I was a lukewarm Christian who never committed or dedicated my life to Jesus. I felt that I became destructive to myself growing up in bad company and under negative influences. Lots of my friends were distant from God, and that started to build up in me, especially early in high school. I just realized, towards the end of high school, that this wasn't the type of life I wanted to live: always indulging in sin and having these short moments of fulfillment that only left me more empty.
How Jesus Changed My Life
At the end of high school, I was really growing in my faith and trying to obey Jesus' command. But I focused more on not sinning instead of loving Jesus and knowing that He is my advocate. Galatians 2:16 says, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” This makes it clear that works do not justify us before God; it is by faith alone through God's grace. I felt I was trying to earn my way into God's kingdom, but I am already established there through Jesus' death, so I can be in heaven with Him. I didn’t fully understand this until I was at Salt and attending Veritas Church during my first year of college. I changed my perspective and now know, from Romans 3:23, that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Adopting this new mindset, I have lots of gratitude for Jesus replacing my dead-to-sin body with life. This is possible for anyone as well; you just have to believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sent to die for our sins, but also became sin so that we can be made right with God. Romans 6:23 states, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord". We were dead in our sins, but Jesus paid the penalty for them, and we can have eternal life by our faith alone and repentance.
My Life After Jesus Saved Me
As a true believer, I try to reflect my actions as an obeyer of Christ. When in public, I want people to perceive me as a true Christian through my love, compassion, and generosity. I always turn to God in my struggles and sufferings, praying to Him and having conversations with Him because I know He is the only thing that matters in the end. I am thankful to have God for who He is: unchanging, perfect, and showing unconditional love. John 14:6 states that we can only reach the Father through His Son, Jesus Christ, who became flesh to defeat evil.