To go to the doctor, you must recognize you are sick. To go to a bank for a loan, you must have a need. To discover Jesus Christ as Savior, you need to realize you need to be saved.
One columnist claims he has gone to many churches and heard the priest say “Don’t try to impress God with your works” or “Don’t attempt to please God with your merits” or “Don’t try to keep the rules and regulations and thus win your way.” He looked around at slumbering gatherings of utterly casual Christians and wondered, “Who’s trying anyway?”
An artist painted a picture of a single person rowing a boat across a vast sea at night. Off in the distant sky was a single star. The impression one gets as one looks at the single person and the lone star is that if the person in that boat ever loses sight of that star in the sky, he will be utterly lost.
For those who want to understand, this is an image of life. If we ever lose sight of the star then we will be utterly lost. The star is Jesus Christ.
Why? Because Jesus Christ is the only who never gives up on us. A young officer, who had recently been led to the way of God but was still struggling with his conscience, asked his confessor if God really accepted man’s repentance so willingly, as they say He does. “If your cloak happens to get torn, my son, do you take it off without hesitation and throw it away because it is useless?” asked the holy man. “Of course not,” he said. “I sew it up and mend it, as much as is possible.” “If you pity your clothing and do not throw it away so easily, how can God not feel sorry for His creation?” the good elder said, “Will he not do all he can to mend you?” The young man was put at ease.
Another brother asked the same elder if God forgave human sins easily. “How is it possible for him not to forgive, my child? He taught us long-suffering. Did he not tell Peter to forgive him who had fallen ‘seven times seven,’ which means infinitely?” the elder replied.
“When you are praying, watch over yourself so that not only your outward man prays, but your inward one also. Though you be sinful beyond measure, still pray. Do not heed the devil’s provocation, craftiness, and despair, but overcome and conquer his wiles. Remember the abyss of the Savior’s mercy and love to mankind. The devil will represent the Lord to you as terrible and unmerciful, rejecting your prayer and repentance; but remember the Savior’s own words, full of every hope and boldness for us: “Whoever comes to me, I will not cast away.” (St. John of Kronstadt)
The world famous evangelist Billy Graham had these comments about the disease running rampant in our world: “We are suffering from only one disease in the world. Our basic problem is not a race problem. Our basic problem is not a poverty problem. Our basic problem is not a war problem. Our basic problem is a heart problem. We need to get the heart changed, the heart transformed.”
Only He can do that!