The good news

God made you, and He loves you.

You are not an accident. God created you in His own image, and He loves everyone in the world so much that He gave His only Son.

Look up at the night sky. God made every star, the heavens and the earth. Yet of all He made, you are the one He made in His own image and crowned with glory and honor. He formed you before you were born, and He knows every hair on your head.

Jesus said a single soul is worth more than the whole world. He told of a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for the one that is lost, then carries it home on his shoulders, rejoicing. That is how God sees you: His treasure, worth searching for.

His love for you is wider, longer, higher and deeper than you will ever fully understand.

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

Read: Genesis 1:27 · John 3:16 · Psalm 8:3–5 · Psalm 139:13–16 · Matthew 10:30–31 · Mark 8:36–37 · Luke 15:4–7 · Ephesians 3:17–19 · Romans 5:8

Something is wrong.

Every one of us has turned away from God and done wrong. The Bible calls it sin.

God is perfectly holy, and His standard is not “good enough.” It is perfect. Even one sin, no matter how small it may seem, separates us from God’s holiness and causes us to fall short. One lie. One proud or hateful thought. One selfish act.

Jesus said that anger in the heart is like murder, and that a lustful look is adultery in the heart. The Bible says that whoever keeps all of God’s law but fails in just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Next to His holiness, even our best deeds are like filthy rags.

So no one can try hard enough or be good enough. In God’s eyes, no one is righteous, not even one. And sin has a terrible cost: death, and separation from God forever.

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

Read: Matthew 5:48 · Isaiah 59:2 · Matthew 5:21–28 · James 2:10 · Isaiah 64:6 · Romans 3:10 · Romans 3:23 · Romans 6:23 · 2 Thessalonians 1:9

Jesus came to rescue us.

We could never pay what our sin cost. No amount of good deeds, no religion, no sacrifice could ever take it away. So God came to pay it Himself.

Jesus, the Son of God, became a man and lived the life we could not live. He never sinned, not even once.

Then He took every one of our sins on Himself, yours and mine. He was beaten, mocked and crowned with thorns, then nailed to a cross. The One who had never sinned was made to be sin for us. He took the punishment we deserved, in our place.

Only Jesus could do this. Only He was without sin, so only He could die for the sins of others. Only He is both God and man, the one mediator between God and people. The night before He died, He prayed that if it were possible, this cup would pass from Him. There was no other way to make us right with God.

Why couldn’t God simply forgive us and let it go? Because God is not only loving; He is also just. A good judge cannot let the guilty walk free as if nothing happened, and God will never pretend that sin does not matter. Justice had to be done, and the price of sin had to be paid. At the cross, God’s justice and God’s love met: our sin was punished in full, and He paid the price Himself. That is how He can be just and still forgive everyone who puts their faith in Jesus. So He went to the cross, for you.

Three days later He rose from the dead, conquering death and the grave. The price was paid in full.

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

Read: Hebrews 10:4 · Hebrews 4:15 · 1 Peter 2:24 · 2 Corinthians 5:21 · 1 Timothy 2:5 · Matthew 26:39 · Acts 4:12 · Exodus 34:6–7 · Proverbs 17:15 · Romans 3:25–26 · 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · Revelation 1:18

It’s a free gift.

No one can earn their way to God. Forgiveness and eternal life are a gift, given by God’s grace and received through faith in Jesus.

It really is that simple. You don’t have to clean yourself up first. Come to God as you are, tell Him you have sinned and fallen short, and ask Him to save you. Jesus told of a man who could only pray, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” and he went home made right with God.

But a gift has to be received. God does not forgive everyone by default. Jesus said that unless we repent, we will perish, and God commands all people everywhere to repent. To repent means to turn: to agree with God that your sin is wrong, to turn away from it, and to turn to Him.

When you confess your sins and trust Jesus, He is faithful to forgive you and make you clean. Though your sins are like scarlet, He makes you white as snow. And there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

Read: Ephesians 2:8–9 · Romans 6:23 · Luke 18:13–14 · Luke 13:3 · Acts 17:30 · 1 John 1:9 · Isaiah 1:18 · Luke 15:10 · Psalm 103:12

Trust Him.

If you believe Jesus is who He said He is, tell Him. Turn to Him, trust Him as your Lord, and follow Him. To everyone who believes in His name, He gives the right to become a child of God.

He will never turn away anyone who comes to Him. You don’t have to understand everything first, and you don’t have to wait. Today can be the day you come home.

Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:13

Read: Romans 10:9–13 · John 1:12 · John 6:37 · 2 Corinthians 6:2 · Luke 15:20–24