God can't possibly love me?

Not so long ago, myself and a group of friends were witnessing to a man who claimed to be an atheist. After talking with this man for a while he finally told us something along the lines of, "My biggest problem I think is that God, if He exists, couldn't possibly love me."

I wonder how many with a "checkered past" have said that before as an excuse to reject Jesus' offer of free salvation?

If you have ever believed this type of logic you need to get rid of that "lie" from the devil. That is straight from the pit of hell.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

I have seen former cold blooded murders and drug dealers receive salvation and they are now such that you would not recognize them if you had known them in the past and not seen them in years.

Even my Pastor at one time was a drug user / dealer, but he came to really know Jesus in a relationship and has now been a pastor for close to 20 years.

"Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:9-14

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace." Philippians 1:6-7

You don't have to 'clean up your act' to receive salvation, you simply have to "believe" and "repent."

All one has to do is surrender their life to Jesus. If we surrender our lives to Jesus as our Lord then He will begin a "good work" in us and we have His promise that He will complete that work. It is not us, it is Him that completes it. Our only "job" is to believe and repent then surrender our lives to seeking after Him daily.

The Bible says our "righteous acts" are like filthy rags to the Lord. We couldn't "clean up our act" and "earn" favor with Him if we wanted to. It is by Grace through faith only.

If you want to know how you can be saved and come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, please visit the four spiritual laws that can save you today

I never knew you

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
(Matthew 7:21-23)

I was just thinking again about the above verses.

There is something that never ceases to amaze me about the verses. There are many wolves in sheep's clothes out there today that are convinced by their own counterfeit miracles that are accompanied by the preaching of a perverted gospel. The shocking thing is that they still won't "get it" to the point they will seek to try and argue with Jesus Himself when they are standing before Him to be judged. They remind me a bit of the rich man trying to argue with Abraham while in hell in Luke Chapter 16:

"And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ (see verse 30)

Talk about totally "missing it"...what a picture of so many today that are doing false signs and wonders in Jesus' name while perverting His Gospel to literally a different gospel.

You have to be pretty full of yourself to reach that sort of self delusion.

You also have to be very careful about the “Dangers of signs and wonders”

Signs and wonders do not always necessarily mean a ministry or a message is inspired by God or sharing the true Gospel of Jesus.

Beware of False conversion!

I have been reading a great book by Ray Comfort called, "How to Bring Your Children to Christ & Keep Them There"

It is worth the read even if you don't have children because a lot of what Ray shares is applicable to sinners in general.

I was glad to see that Ray spends a lot of time on the topic of "false conversion" and Ray goes into detail about how praying a prayer is not some magic incantation that can save you.

If you look you will not find a so called "sinner's prayer" anywhere in Scripture and I am very troubled at times. For example, I was out witnessing and doing "street evangelism" one night and shared the Gospel with a high school age young man and several of his friends. His friend (who attended the local 'sinner sensitive' mega church) said something along the lines of "dude, pray that prayer then you can do whatever you want and still go to Heaven when you die."

We had to have a little discussion at that point about "cheap grace" verse if you really understand the price Jesus paid on the cross and how God views your sin that there is no way you would go out and willfully sin against that kind of Grace. We also had to "chat" about what it means to be religious and still lost verses truly abiding in Jesus to bear fruit.

Having a true change of heart and a true awareness of your sin leading to repentance is what saves you. Repent = turn around 180 degrees and go the other way.

If I have ever disagreed with my pastor on anything it is the topic of baptism for really young kids, say a 4 year old I know. I don't honestly believe they truly understand sin or repentance at that age...I can "coach" a 4 year old to repeat anything in a prayer but it doesn't mean they would understand or comprehend what it all means. I know a 4 year old in my Sunday school class that has "prayed the prayer" and been baptized but I fear all it did was set this poor child up for a false sense of security.

I tend to agree more with Ray, that you don't "seek" a "decision for Christ" from your kids because you are likely doing a work of the flesh. You can be well meaning and sincere enough but if the Holy Spirit isn't doing a work in the child's heart right then you are not going to get them to Heaven by "honey, it is really urgent that you repeat this prayer with me so you can get to Heaven." A kid will repeat it, but that doesn't mean they will understand it.

What you seek is the Lord's leading on how to raise your kids in the way they should go and the Holy Spirit will bring them to a "real" decision for Christ that involves an understanding of sin and turning away from sin to make Jesus their Lord when the time is right and they are old enough to comprehend. There is a big difference between true salvation that involves turning from one's sin and making Jesus Lord and simply being a victim of religion and religious ritual that gives one a false sense of security.

If people are subject to a "false conversion" then it really is a bad thing. Later in life when they are in a mess they will say, "O'yeah, I tried the Jesus thing and it didn't work for me" or they could be speeding down the highway to hell like some I know and say, "Dude, I prayed the prayer so leave me alone...once saved always saved".

Once saved always saved while true does not mean you can spend 45 seconds praying a prayer then live worse then the world with the "conversion" not making more than 46 seconds difference in your life.