I know I share a lot of thoughts in this space, and most of them are echoes reiterating the same message, because it’s a message that is the very reason I write the words I share.

My words are fueled by my faith. They start and end there, and Lord willing, they will always echo my heart’s prayer…

Father, thank you for loving me, and thank you for saving me. Draw me closer to you that I may see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and walk with you more nearly as I seek to know you more and share your love with others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

And God keeps answering that prayer through the ups, downs, twists, and turns of the life lessons I continue to learn. It’s actually through those lessons that the complexities of Christianity become a simpler reality for me because the Holy Spirit helps me see them through the lens of my personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

In this world, there are a lot of decisions vying for our immediate attention, but there is one decision, I believe, that’s the most important decision we’ll ever make.

So, I’m inviting you to simply push pause in your day, stop scrolling, and give me just a few minutes to tell you about this life changing decision that requires your undivided attention.

First of all, God loves you (us).

The creator of the universe created it all with you (humanity) in mind. He loves us, and He desires a relationship with us, but when He created us, He gave us the free will to choose to love Him or not. And it’s because of that free will that we sometimes choose to go our own way which is called “sin” because we miss the mark of the standard set by Holy God.

Secondly, sin separates us from God.

You see, we “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We literally, because of our sin, are separated from Him...spiritually dead. And as long as we go our own way, do our own thing, live by our own standards, we stay separated from God.

But...

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” ~ 2 Peter 3:9

A price had to be paid because a way had to be made.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~ Romans 6:23

God loved us so much that He sent his son Jesus to pay the penalty for our sin and reconcile us back to Him.

“but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God...” ~ Isaiah 59:2

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ~ Romans 5:8

Jesus’s death was the price that had to be paid, and His resurrection was the way that was made.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” ~ John 14:6

His great love was manifested in His amazing grace.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ~ 1 John 1:9

If you’ve never accepted God’s free gift of salvation through confession and repentance of your sins and trusting God’s forgiveness and righteousness to cleanse you from them and reconcile you back to Him, would you do that today?

It is the most important decision you’ll ever make.

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

If you have called on the name of the Lord for your salvation, join me in the same prayer with which I started this post. May it be our prayer from now until eternity…

Father, thank you for loving me, and thank you for saving me. Draw me closer to you that I may see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and walk with you more nearly as I seek to know you more and share your love with others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” ~ 2 Timothy 1:6-10