Be reconciled to God.

God is calling you to Himself

If you have come to this page looking for peace with God, I do not want to give you a religious formula or persuade you to repeat carefully chosen words.

A prayer cannot save you. A church cannot save you. Trying to become a better person cannot remove your guilt. Only Jesus Christ can save.

My purpose is simply to place before you what God has said concerning His Son and to urge you, in the words of Scripture:

“We pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”

2 Corinthians 5:20

This is not merely an invitation to adopt Christian beliefs. It is a call to come to the living God through Jesus Christ.

Why do we need reconciliation?

Something has gone wrong within us.

We naturally compare ourselves with other people and conclude that we are not especially bad. But other people are not the standard. God is holy, and He sees not only our public actions but also our thoughts, motives and concealed desires.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”

Romans 3:23

Sin includes the wrong things we do, but it goes deeper. We have lived as though our lives belonged to us. We have resisted God’s rightful authority, failed to love Him and harmed people made in His image.

Some sins are visible and some remain secret. Some produce consequences that everyone can see; others are hidden beneath a respectable life. Yet none of us can truthfully claim innocence before God.

Death is not simply an unfortunate end to human life. It entered the world through sin, and beyond death stands our meeting with God. We cannot undo our past, cleanse our own hearts or talk God into calling evil good.

We need more than advice. We need forgiveness, a new relationship with God and a new life.

What has God done?

The good news does not begin with what we must achieve. It begins with what God has done.

God did not wait for humanity to improve itself. He sent His Son into the world.

Jesus Christ is not merely a religious teacher or moral example. He is the eternal Son of God who became truly human. He lived without sin, loved perfectly and always did the will of His Father.

Although He was innocent, He willingly went to the cross.

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”

1 Corinthians 15:3–4

Christ did not die because His enemies had defeated God’s plan. His death was the plan. On the cross, He bore the judgment deserved by sinners.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:6

Jesus took the place of the guilty. He endured judgment so that those who come to Him may be forgiven and brought to God.

His resurrection was not a symbol or a comforting story. He rose bodily from the grave. Death could not hold Him. He is alive, He reigns, and He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him.

How do we receive this salvation?

God commands people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.

To repent is to turn towards God with a changed mind about Him, about our sin and about Jesus Christ. It means that we stop defending ourselves, stop treating sin lightly and acknowledge that God is right.

Repentance does not mean cleaning yourself up before you may come. If you could make yourself fit for God, you would not need a Saviour.

Faith is more than knowing certain facts about Jesus. It is relying upon Him.

You are not being asked to bargain with God, promise perfect behaviour or offer Him a record of future obedience. You are being called to stop resting upon yourself and entrust yourself to Jesus Christ.

“Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Acts 20:21

Christ is not merely a way of escaping punishment while we continue to regard our lives as entirely our own. He is Lord and Saviour. But your willingness, strength and future performance do not purchase His salvation. You come without merit, trusting His completed work rather than yours.

The question is not whether your faith feels strong. The question is whether the Christ in whom you are trusting is able to save. He is.

Is God really willing to receive me?

Perhaps you believe that Christ receives other people but fear that your own guilt is too great.

You may be ashamed of what you have done. You may have resisted God for years. You may have made promises that you later broke. You may feel very little emotion, or you may fear that you cannot repent sincerely enough.

Listen to Christ’s own promise:

“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

John 6:37

He does not say that He will receive only those with a respectable past, powerful emotions or an impressive understanding. He promises not to cast out the one who comes to Him.

God takes no pleasure in empty religion or carefully performed words. But He does welcome the person who comes honestly, without excuses and without confidence in personal goodness.

Do not wait until you feel worthy. You will never make yourself worthy. Come because Christ is worthy, Christ has died, Christ has risen and Christ has promised to receive those who come to Him.

“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.”

Hebrews 7:25

What does God promise?

God does not offer a vague possibility of acceptance. He gives promises upon which the believer may rest.

“He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

John 5:24

The person who trusts Christ is forgiven. The guilt that stood against them is removed. God receives them, not because they have become deserving, but because Christ has answered for their sin.

They receive eternal life—not merely life in heaven after death, but a new life that begins now. God gives His Holy Spirit, brings the believer into His family and begins His work within them.

This new life does not make a Christian instantly mature or incapable of falling. Christians still face temptation, weakness and painful struggles. Growth may be slow, and God’s children sometimes require correction.

Nevertheless, God does not save people merely to leave them untouched. The Holy Spirit produces new desires, teaches us to hate what once ruled us and gradually forms the character of Christ within us.

This change is not the price paid for salvation. It is the work God begins because He has saved us.

How can I be sure?

Assurance does not rest upon remembering the exact moment you prayed, producing enough emotion or continually measuring whether you have changed enough.

It rests first upon Jesus Christ and the promise of God.

Ask yourself where your confidence lies. Are you trusting your religion, baptism, good intentions, knowledge or past experience? Or are you relying upon Christ—who He is, what He accomplished on the cross and God’s promise to those who believe?

Do not look first at the strength of your faith. Look at the strength of the Saviour.

The same Christ who receives the sinner is able to keep His people. He said:

“I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

John 10:28

Your feelings may change. Christ does not. Your understanding may be incomplete. His work is complete. Your hold may sometimes feel weak, but His hand is not weak.

Come to Christ

I cannot make you believe, and no carefully chosen words of mine can give you new life. That is the work of God.

But I can urge you not to hide from Him.

Do not wait for a more convenient time. Do not imagine that religious activity can replace reconciliation. Do not suppose that you must first repair yourself. Come to God as you truly are, confessing your need and trusting His Son.

You may speak to God honestly. Admit your sin without excuses. Tell Him that you cannot save yourself. Place your confidence in Jesus Christ—crucified for sinners and risen from the dead.

The words you use will not save you. Christ saves.

God has not concealed His willingness:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

John 3:16

The promise is not that everyone who understands every doctrine, repairs every failure or reaches a certain emotional state will be received.

The promise is that whoever believes in the Son has everlasting life.