It is reasonable to believe that a God
whose love is so great that He would give His own Son is even more concerned
about people than we could ever be (2 Peter 3:9). He desires that all people
come into a personal relationship with Him (1Timothy 2:4). The Bible teaches
that all individuals have some knowledge of God, and that He has put the
consciousness of eternity in every person’s mind (Romans
If a person truly desires to know God,
God will provide the information needed to know Him. This was true, for
example, with Cornelius, the Roman centurion who sincerely desired to know God.
The book of Acts in the New Testament recalls how Peter was sent to tell him
how he could receive salvation (Acts
Many ask, "How can a loving God
send someone to hell?" With equal fairness, the better question that
should be asked is, "How can a holy and righteous God allow a sinful
person into heaven?" Ultimately, the issue becomes the following: each
individual must deal with the fact that they have their own choice of where
they want to go.
God by nature is holy and just. If He
dealt with us only in love, a love without standards, we would think Him weak
and unworthy or our respect. He, in fact, would not be truly God. If, on the
other hand, He dealt with us only in His holiness and justice, we would all be
sent to hell, because His nature is incompatible with sin. By Christ’s [God the
Son’s] death on the cross for our sin, God fully satisfied the requirements of
His moral character, while at the same time providing the way by which an
individual could come into a personal relationship with Him.
What is your decision regarding Christ’s
offer to forgive your sins, enter your life, begin a personal relationship with
you, and begin changing your thoughts, attitudes, actions, desires, and habits?
In addition, once your have received His
forgiveness for all of your sins, what will you do personally to tell others
who have not heard about Jesus? He asked us to be His witnesses, "… in