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WHY WAS I BORN?

To those who want to know

If people die, why are they born?

Who would dare to answer such a question? So, before I begin, let me give you some information about myself. I am an adult male aged 73 living in the United States. I graduated from college three times, and have written a number of books, all dealing with human behavior. I am a retired psychotherapist and family counselor.

To begin, use your imagination for a moment, and suppose that a baby is born with a mature mind. He is born with the ability to understand the world he is being born into. As he exits the womb and pokes his head into the world, in anger and frustration he shrieks out loud, “Why am I here? What’s the point if I’m only going to die eventually? And in all those years that I am here, why must I suffer pain, sickness, distress, sadness, grief, loss of loved ones, anxiety, sweat and toil?” Who wants that? But for some reason he will continue to want to stay here and live out his life until he dies. Throughout his life the reality of death hangs over him. It is a constant nagging fear that he tries to keep out of his awareness. And that is true of all of us, we don’t like thinking about when and how we will die. So why do we fear it? Does it serve a purpose? And if so, what is that purpose?

As human beings we naturally try to avoid things that are unpleasant. We try not to think about them. This is part of our human nature. But as unpleasant as it is to think about death, it is necessary to consider it in order to find the answer to the question, “Why were you born?”

I struggled for a long time with the questions: Why was I born? Why am I alive? Is there a purpose to life that I need to know about?

In 2022 the answer finally came to me.

I don’t think of myself as being a philosopher, but I think about a lot of things, especially about life and relationships. I think about my own mortality. I think about it a lot. I know I’m going to die. When I look at people younger than I am I have a sense of jealousy. But I enjoyed my youth, and time has taken that away from me. Everyone dies. We are all heading towards the same end. And it never used to make sense to me, but it does now. I wish there was no distress or suffering in life, and that life would go on forever.

The things I explain here make a lot of sense. And I believe it’s hard to argue against them. By reading what follows, you will find that it will make you think, and think really hard about life! To understand death there is a lot about life that needs to be understood. Without that understanding we cannot find the answer to why we were born?

If you were asked, "What's the most important thing you will do today, what would your answer be?" There is only one answer to that question, "stay alive!" That's the most important thing all of us do everyday.

Death drives everything we do. It is the one dynamic that the whole world runs on. Every single thing that any one of us does is motivated by it. It's the reason behind why people find jobs and work in order to earn a living. The whole process of earning a living is about avoiding death. Why do people live in shelters, such as houses, or tents, or huts? Isn’t the purpose of a shelter to keep us safe from getting sick or being hurt by wild animals, or criminals. It’s part of our basic survival instinct. The same is true for why we eat. We eat so we can keep ourselves from dying. And why do people get training in various skills, and why do others attend college? Aren’t they enabling themselves to be able to earn a living? If you think about it the purpose behind everything people do is connected to avoiding death. But you might be thinking, "Not everything we do is connected to death." Well, read on, because even having fun has a connection to the terror of death. How many things did you do today to keep yourself alive?

Have you ever thought about how fragile your body is? When I was a toddler, maybe I was three years old, I can remember a day when I was on the living room sofa, kneeling on my knees, in a position where my legs were bent so that my feet were under my butt. Staying like that, I would hop forward inch by inch until I was at the edge of the sofa, and I would bounce off and land on the floor on my knees. I did this repeatedly. My brother, who was four years older than me saw what I was doing and told me to stop and he said, “You’re going to hurt yourself.” I asked him what that meant. He called our mother and she explained what it meant. I had not yet developed an understanding about getting hurt. So, she told me what it meant. She also told me that I could die, and that everyone eventually does die. She wasn’t being mean; she was just explaining the facts about life. Well, hearing that blew my mind. I was filled with fear and quite upset, and I cried. But it was a lesson I needed to learn because our bodies are fragile. We must constantly take care of our bodies and be careful. You know, look both ways before you cross the street. Life is kind of like we are a balloon living in a big room filled with pins and needles. We are confronted with vile problems every day, auto accidents, cancer and other diseases, violent criminals, machinery accidents, accidents in the kitchen, and so on. Yet every day we suppress the notion that our balloon could pop at any moment. Psychologist have a word for this, it’s called “denial.”

Death also has an ugly sister, which is pain. Pain is present in sickness, emotional and relational problems, and loss, such as the severe illness or death of someone we love. Just like we do everything we can to avoid dying we also do everything we can to avoid pain. What did you do today to avoid pain?

Some people would argue that there are things that are not driven by the dynamic of death and pain. For example, watching football games, playing golf, going on vacations, reading a book, shopping at the mall, playing video games, and hundreds of other things people enjoy doing. In reality, these are all self-soothing activities, things we do to distract ourselves from the reality of our own mortality. Thinking about it causes us to feel anxious and even a bit depressed. Keeping occupied with doing things keeps us from thinking about dying. Even work can be a source of distraction. Some might say, life is what we do while we are waiting to die. We have to be doing something all the time so we don’t think about dying. Boredom is another problem for us. We make an effort not to be bored. If left alone, boredom brings us face to face with our inner fears about death and dying. Times of boredom are empty spaces in our lives in which we are prone to reflect on our own mortality.

There are other reasons why people self-soothe. Most often it is due to a person’s sense of self-worth and acceptance by others. These tend to turn into clinical problems and people will seek professional help to self soothe. These types of problems can cause serious emotional discomfort. Sometimes the emotional pain is so great that people will go to extremes to self soothe. We call these extremes self-medicating behaviors, such as the use of alcohol and other drugs (including anabolic steroid use), gluttony, promiscuous sex, pornography, gambling, etc. Suicide is the most extreme and tragic attempt to self soothe.

What did you do today that was self-soothing?

Every human behavior is driven by a purpose. Whether a person realizes it or not, every behavior is purpose driven, and at the deepest level of the purpose is a focus. There are three focuses of a person’s behavior. One is the survival focus, having to do with keeping ourselves alive, another is the self-soothing focus, and the third is the one that gives the answer to the question, “Why were you born?” I will discuss the third one later on in this article.

The dynamics of death and pain make us selfish. It creates a need to survive, which motivates selfish reactions in all of us. If you don’t think you are selfish you are deceiving yourself. You are blind to that aspect of your behavior. But don’t feel singled out because there isn’t a human being born that doesn’t have a selfish nature. Selfish behavior is most pronounced in those situations in which we feel some sort of a threat, whether minor or grave. At times when we feel threatened, even by little problems, our first impulse is to take care of “number one” first, number one meaning “Me myself.” Very often we don’t even realize when we are being selfish. Did you ever feel any degree of frustration because someone got into that parking space at the mall before you did. What about when you are working on a task, while under time pressure, and someone interrupts you, and you become annoyed. In situations like those, if you felt even the slightest degree of frustration, that emotion was motivated by a selfish motive. Some might say “that’s just human nature.” The truth is, it is part of human nature and it’s called selfishness. But it doesn’t mean that as people that we don’t do good things for one another. Because we do. But all the good that we do doesn’t change the fact that within us we have an inclination under times of distress to be self-protecting above and beyond the other person.

Have you ever competed at something? Maybe in a sport, spelling bee, something related to your career, like the number of sales made during the month? Some people are more competitive than others, and there are reasons for that, (which this article will not address). Do you remember a time when you failed to meet a competitive goal that you made for yourself? Do you remember how you felt when that happened? Was it an uncomfortable feeling? Or, can you recall a time when someone criticized you for something you did or said, or your appearance? Did it make you become angry at the person that criticized you? Before we explore that feeling we need to understand the greatest fear all people have, and it’s not the fear of death.

What do people fear more than anything else in life? As a psychotherapist I’ve asked this question to hundreds of people. Some were able to answer it accurately using different words. But every time I stated it plainly every person that heard the answer agreed with it, and said it made sense. The one thing human beings fear more than anything else in life is “rejection.” The fear of rejection is the fear that “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m not wanted.” It is a threat to a person’s sense of self-worth, and is emotionally painful. The soccer player who fails to make the team experiences this pain, so does the young wannabe secretary who applies for a job and doesn’t get hired, and also the police officer whose wife criticizes him for not picking up after himself. Clinical depression is the persistent thought in a person’s mind that he is not good enough, or not wanted, or disapproved. Lastly, the fear of rejection also intensifies the fear of death.

To find the answer to why you were born; as well as finding meaning for your life, and true happiness, you will need to understand the reason why death exists. Yes, death serves a real purpose. And this purpose is of the utmost importance. Is there anything good about death? Some might say that the fear of death is hell itself. But as unpleasant and fearful as death is, there is something good about it. Read on and you will know why. Not only that, but you will also understand the reason for why there is evil, misery, and suffering in the world.

The fear of death is extinguished in the belief that there is life after death. And more than this, that life after death is one without suffering and misery, but is instead a real existence in which you experience continual peace, happiness, satisfaction, unconditional acceptance, love and intimacy. But if this sounds good, if it is believable, it still doesn’t answer the question, “Why was I born?

In order to answer the question, we must consider the possibility that God really exists. And in view of the fact that the world has multiple religions, each espousing different deities, we must consider that one true God exists and not any others. How do we do this? It is done by looking at evidence, the hard cold facts.

Concerning the existence of God, atheists don’t believe he exists. And agnostics will only believe if it can be proven that God exists. So, to those who are doubters they may want to ask themselves, is it possible that God is doing something inside of me that is making me doubt, that is preventing me from seeing the truth? And an even better question for doubters is to ask what is it that God wants from me that I’m not willing to give him? And what motivates me to doubt him? Is it simply because I see no evidence of his existence? Or is it something within me that I’m even hiding from myself? Is my doubt evidence that God has in fact rejected me? Abandoned me? (Prov. 1:28-33, Romans 1:18-32). There can be only one answer concerning what God wants from you, which is faith. As we continue in this article I’m going to talk more about the substance of faith, what it really is and what its purpose is.

Let’s explore the issue of whether there is a God. If there is no God, then Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution makes sense, but not completely. First of all, it is a theory. A theory is a belief in an idea, usually held together with scientific principles that are related to the belief, but without any conclusive proof of the theory. In reality a theory is a big guess. Darwin’s theory is that from no existence of life whatsoever, somehow life managed to get started, and that without any intelligence directing the formation of it. Most people when they think about that feel it’s a stretch.

Now ask yourself, what was on the Earth before there was any life? Before even there were the smallest microorganisms. Before any trace of life on this planet whatsoever. There is only one answer to that question: only inorganic substances were on the earth, lifeless inorganic substances, also known as the elements, such as: zinc, sulfur, beryllium, cobalt, nickel, calcium, zirconium, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, and another 108 inorganic substances of different types. All the elements are material, but lifeless, and that’s all there was before there was any life, just lifeless stuff. And without life, stuff has no value. Value only exists in living organisms that have a mental capacity to recognize it. As humans we are different from all other living organisms in that we have both awareness and intelligence. And we are the only species that has awareness of death. Ernest Becker wrote in his Pulitzer Prize–winning book Denial of Death, that nonhuman animals know nothing about dying: “The knowledge of death is reflective and conceptual, and animals are spared it.”* So, if stuff has no life, that means the elements were simply junk. So, if the theory of evolution is true then junk came together on its own and produced life. It came together without any providence whatsoever; no intelligence was directing the formation of life. That notion is a stretch for many people to accept. To be logical, if junk can come together by itself what it produces is more junk. The implication is that you and I are nothing more than junk. Our physical bodies are junk and the immaterial part inside of us, which we call our souls, are also junk. Again, that’s a difficult notion for a lot of people to accept. And if you believe that you are not junk, then you believe in a creator, you believe in God.

It is important to note that Darwin wrote his theory motivated by what some consider a racist intention. The original title of his theory suggested that the Negro was inferior to the white race. Anyone can research this on their own. The following is the original title: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.

If human lives matter, they must contain value. Understanding value is important because there is a connection between it and faith. Value is the worth, benefit, and importance recognized and appreciated in an object or idea. Is it important to you that someone in your life values and loves you? That he or she recognizes and appreciates your worth, benefit, and importance? Who is that person? Is it a spouse, a family member, or a close friend? We only gain value in ourselves through relationships with others. If no one values us then our sense of self-worth suffers. Faith is the intentional attachment of oneself to a perceived value seen in another person or idea. To express it figuratively, it is like a mental cord we attach to a person or idea that we value. And with it we hold onto what we value. When the cord is strong enough, we behave in ways that reflect the value we recognize in the person or idea. Are you mentally attached to the people you love? If so, then you have faith that they are valuable to you. And they likewise have faith in you, because they are attached to the value they see in you. What are we when we have no value nor faith? The answer is we are empty, alone, perhaps even lost.

Have you been valued by everyone you ever came across in life? Can you say that you have never met anyone in life that didn’t see a fault or defect in you? Have you gone through life without even receiving the smallest criticism, ever? Or do you recognize that you have areas that you need to work on improving yourself in? Do you feel totally self-assured that you are good enough and totally without any faults? I doubt it. I think only an arrogant fool would answer yes. When we get criticized, most times we either feel angry or discouraged. That’s because our human nature is driven by a basic psychological need to feel worthwhile to ourselves and others. To feel that we are good enough, in fact to desire to be perfect. The truth is, no human relationship we can make can actually satisfy the innate desire to be perfectly without any fault. But if there were a way in which you could experience yourself as perfect, wouldn’t that be awesome? Think of the peace that would bring you.

Pain and death are the only things a person does that is truly done alone. When we suffer pain, we feel the pain alone. No one feels the pain with us. Others may console us and offer advice on how to lessen the pain, but they don’t feel the pain, only we feel it. When a child has a stomach ache or toothache, the mother will give encouragement and empathy, but she cannot feel her child’s pain. The child feels the pain alone. As a therapist, I listened to clients talk about their emotional pain. I would give them empathy by listening carefully and mirroring back their feelings as best that I understood their feelings. But I could not feel in myself their actual pain. They suffered those unwanted emotions alone. I recently watched my brother die in the hospital. I was there by his side. He died, yet I lived. I didn’t die with him, he died alone. Orson Welles once said: “We come into the world alone, we die alone, we live alone. Love and friendship are the nearest thing that we can find to create the illusion that we are not totally alone.” That sounds depressing, but it doesn’t have to be that way. The answer to why you were born will eradicate the depression.

“Is it not obvious? What is life but a betrayal? We start out young, full of hope. The sun is good, the world awaits us. But every passing year shows how small you are, how insignificant against the power of the seasons. Then you age. Your strength fails and the world laughs at you through the jeers of younger men. And you die. Alone. Unfulfilled. But sometimes ... sometimes there will come a man who is not insignificant. He can change the world, rob the seasons of their power. He is the sun.” — David Gemmell

What is done today only matters for today. Do we take the things that we have done in this life with us into death? Does our behavior follow us? Think about it, if you die tomorrow, the good that you do today may matter to people you leave behind, but to you it is all lost. Does death eradicate your memory? Does it instantly make you lose awareness of yourself? In time the dead are forgotten about. Death steals value from life. It makes life seem like it is pointless. Do you think your life is meaningful? If you think so, then what gives your life meaning, and will its meaning last?

Can you remember the day that you were born? When you think about that question does a sense arise in you that you always existed, that you never had a beginning, that you just were? What about a sense that you are eternal? And if so, do you ever fear that you can lose that eternal sense? In the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that God has put eternity into the human heart, that is, a sense that life continues beyond this present existence (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Without God there is no value to anyone’s life. Those who are doubters in God’s existence can only at best gain a meager sense of personal value, that does not truly satisfy their hearts and expires at their deaths. Doubters exist in a solely temporary biological life.

The human heart longs for emotional connection and intimacy. The need to feel acknowledged and valued, by at least one other person, is a basic psychological need. It is the driving force behind why people get married. Marriage fills an empty void in the human heart and imitates the real purpose for why people are born. You were born for a single purpose, which is to know the one who created you! Simply stated, you were born so you can know God. God is love, and he desires to have an intimate relationship with you. If this is the truth, why isn’t it plain? Why isn’t it strikingly obvious? Why are there doubters? Why are there so many religions?

The reason why we are born is not plainly obvious, because there is a problem, a very big problem. Although there is a problem, there is also a solution. Both will be explained next. And although we have the answer to, “Why was I born?” we have not yet addressed the reason for death and pain. That will follow also. But first we must explore the facts about God.

Doubters say, if there is a God, why doesn’t He show Himself. If God did appear, what would He have to do to prove that He is in fact God? And if we are born to know Him, how can we know Him? And which god? There are many religions and they all have a different idea about God, which one is the truth?

God is sovereign, meaning He is the all-powerful ruler who acts according to His will only. It also means, no one tells Him what to do, and that there is no other God beside Him. He is the one true God who created the universe and everything in it. Plain and simple, God is not revealed in any religion. It was His plan before the world began that He Himself would reveal Himself to the world, at a time and place of His choosing. Two thousand years ago God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the promised Jewish Messiah, the Savior of the world. His mission in coming into the world was to reveal God to the world and to save it from the consequences of sin, which is eternal death. He saves the world through His suffering and death on a Roman cross. He proved that He was God by giving sight to the blind, healing the lame, raising the dead back to life, and many other miracles. His life, death, and resurrection from death was witnessed by hundreds of people. His ministry on earth was documented by His followers and has been accurately preserved to this day, in what we call the Holy Bible. He is the most significant person in all of history. The promise of God is, to all who believe in Him through faith are saved from eternal death. Eternal death is both physical and spiritual death, which results from the separation from God.

No other faith makes a claim to an actual manifestation of God. It is only in Jesus Christ, the God-Man, that God is known.

So, what is the problem? Why isn’t the reason we are born obvious? The reason is “sin.” Because of sin, the truth about life and death is not obvious to us. It keeps us in the dark. Sin is disobedience to God’s laws (1 John 3:4). It causes us to be separated from God, so that He is hidden from us (Isaiah 59:2), and the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23). And the truth is that all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10). Sin is a disease that every person is born with (Psalm 51:5, Eph. 2:3 Romans 5:12). Sin is our nature and we are held captive to it. Enslaved to it. I know that sounds very offensive. Yet, many people recognize that problem in themselves. The notion that a person has sin in his or her life conflicts with the human need to be “good enough,” or to be without fault or defect. It strikes at a person’s pride. And for some people, the idea of sin is an intolerable judgment, that contradicts their own power to control their own destiny. They are in rebellion against the sovereignty of God, and insist that they alone decide right from wrong.

But there is good news. No, not just good news, but the very best news in all of life: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus Christ), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17).

At the conclusion of this article, you will find an explanation of the process of salvation, and the Bible verses that teach it. For now, we will explore the reason for, and the purpose of death and suffering. The first book of the Bible is called Genesis. It tells how God created the first two people; Adam the first man, and Eve, the first woman. In the narrative about them we see that God gave them freewill. He also admonished them not to eat from a certain tree. “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17). The devil was there beguiling them, and so they disobeyed the command and the punishment that fell upon them, and their descendants, was death and suffering.

Essentially, what they did was to turn their backs on the God who created them and cared for them. In this one act of disobedience, they decided to establish for themselves that they would decide what was right and what was wrong. An attitude that we see today in our fallen nature, “no one tells me what to do! I do what I want to do!” They dropped their faith in God! They rejected Him through their disobedience. To state it figuratively, they gave God the middle finger. Recall what I said earlier in this article, that faith is the intentional attachment of oneself to a perceived value seen in another person or idea. They chose to see value in themselves and to cut the cord of faith that connected them to their creator. The consequence was eternal separation from God, which is death. Because of their disobedience, every person born is eternally separated from Him. They are merely biological entities living in darkness and unable to recognize their eternal dilemma. Despite this, God sees value in every person born and is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Tim, 2:4). And God’s plan of salvation is a testimony to this fact.

What do you see in the world today? Do you see evidence of evil in the world? What about lying, cheating, stealing, adultery, abortion, beatings, muggings, rape, murder, war, etc.? God hates evil. If God didn’t punish Adam and Eve with death and suffering, and He let them continue to decide for themselves what was right and what was wrong, without death and suffering hanging over them, would they have had any motivation to come back to Him? If people are selfish and cruel today, what would it be like if there was no death and suffering? Do you think there would be any reason for people to want to know God and put their faith back into Him? The answer is a resounding NO! Plainly said, death and suffering serve to motivate human beings to seek God. Without death and suffering our selfish sinful nature would be exaggerated and we would never seek Him. He is the source of life. We all can overcome the tragedy of death and suffering by putting our faith into His plan of salvation, which is found only in Jesus Christ. Concerning Jesus Christ, the Bible declares: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Remember, God is sovereign. He doesn't ask for our opinion. He alone wills how we can be made right with Him. He doesn’t give us a selection of ways that we may choose from. Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

The Bible tells us, that when a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, that person is changed. Literally, the Spirit of Jesus Christ comes to live in the person’s heart (Col. 1:27). And, all things have become new for the person (2 Cor 5:17). A new behavioral focus will motivate him or her. This is the third behavioral focus I discussed earlier, which is the spiritual focus. To summarize the three focuses are survival, self-soothing, and spiritual.

The spiritual focus is to live life in union with Jesus Christ. It is the reason for being born. By living in union with Him, the person will be soothed in this present life by the indwelling Spirit of Jesus Christ (John 14:27). Unlike self-soothing that we do to ourselves, this soothing comes from God and is eternal. A peacefulness that is beyond comprehension will come upon the believer, and will last forever. And, only what he or she does in this present life, which is done in union with Christ, will matter and continue on for all eternity. Everything else will not matter and will be burned up (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). The fear of death is removed (Hebrews 2:15), and Christ’s unconditional love will motivate those who love Him to live life pleasingly to God.

Unique to faith in Jesus Christ is the indwelling of His Holy Spirit in the believer, and the believer being made right with God through faith by grace. By faith, meaning not by doing good works or by keeping laws. No human being has the ability to do enough good works to please God (Isaiah 64:6, Eph. 2:8-9, Titus 3:4-5). And no human being has the ability, because of sin, to perfectly keep His laws. If a person could be made right with God by doing good works, then Christ died for nothing (Romans 11:6, Gal. 2:21, 1 Tim. 1:9, Titus 3:4-5). And Christ alone perfectly fulfilled God’s laws. The reason why Christ willingly died for us is because of our sin nature, we are totally helpless to save ourselves. But, Christ the only sinless person to every be on earth, who also is God, did what it was impossible for us to do– He saved us! Believers live pleasingly to God, because they are motivated by His love, not by fear. Christ perfectly kept all of God’s laws and in Himself He is righteous. Christ’s righteousness is imparted to every believer (Romans 3:22). Believers are saved by faith apart from the law (Romans 3:28, Gal. 2:21). And finally, salvation is totally the work of God, which He freely gives to sinners, despite the fact that they don’t deserve His gift. He gives it by His grace, which is His unmerited favor toward all who believe in Christ. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

How parents love their newborn infant is similar to how God loves us. We can compare it to His grace. Parents give their baby everything it needs. They feed it, they clothe it, they keep it warm and clean, they shower it with love and attention, and they delight in it. They do all these things simply because they love their baby. The baby doesn't need to do anything to be so totally cared for and loved. They love their baby unconditionally. God's saving grace is similar because it isn't earned and in fact it isn't deserved either. How great is God's love? He freely gives us what we do not deserve, more than that He saves us from what we do deserve, which is His judgment. He can only do this because the penalty for our sins were judged in Jesus Christ on the Cross. In life, there is nothing greater, nothing more to be desired than God's grace.

The Gospel of John tells us that, “in him (Christ) was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). When you are with other people outside of your home, maybe in a group or crowd, take notice of what you are looking at. It is a darkness in which you can see. You see people moving about living their lives. But in truth, you are looking at darkness due to mankind’s ignorance of God’s presence and rebelliousness against His will. Life apart from God is life lived in that darkness. All of mankind is under the judgment of God. Do you see people doing their own things? Do you observe how they are self-soothing? Do you notice selfish actions? All of what you are seeing is the darkness of people either ignoring or rejecting God! Because God is sovereign, in His wisdom and by His will, He planned only one way out of the darkness, which is found in Jesus Christ alone. He is the true light of the world.

Every infant born is destined to die one day. No one denies the reality of death. The fact that we all die is the result of being born spiritually dead. We are born into a biological life, which is separated from the life and power of God. Our existence is one of living in darkness under the control of a sinful nature. The human race is literally a race of the walking dead. Here is how the Bible describes our sinful nature:

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12).

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

“Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalms 51:5).

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).

“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12).

“As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan), the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath” (Ephesians 2:1-3).

“The mind governed by the flesh (sinful nature) is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8).

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed” (John 3:19-20).

God’s plan for saving you is not about fixing you or changing you. Rather it’s about creating an entirely new you. We were all born dead, empty of the Spirit of God. Now, God offers His free gift of eternal life through “regeneration.” Literally, we must be born again into a new life and we become a new creation. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3). And this new birth is done by the power of God’s Spirit. Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water (symbolic of the Word of God: Isaiah 55:10-11, John 6:63, Romans 10:17; Ephesians 5:26, James 1:18) and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:5-6). “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).

Salvation is the supernatural miracle of God’s grace. It starts first by hearing the good news of salvation. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). Second, you are sorry for your sins and decide to no longer follow the cravings of sin. Third, you accept, by faith, Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Forth, you make a commitment to learn more about Him and to grow in your faith. Fifth, God's Holy Spirit begins living in you (Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:9, Galatians 3:2, 2 Corinthians 1:22).“This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in [His] love lives in God, and God in them” (1 John 4:13-16).

Because God showed Himself as a man in Jesus Christ, you can know Him personally. You will see Him clearly as you read the four gospels, in the Bible. You will see the wonders of His actions and love. “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’” (2 Cor. 4:6). As you read the gospels you will see the life and ministry of the most loving and beautiful person that ever existed.

No other faith, offers such a personal relationship with God. God wanted to bring you back to Himself so much, that He joined the human race, and willingly allowed Himself to suffer and die for your sins. He redeemed you, meaning He paid the price to purchase your soul back from your captivity to sin and death. In Himself He suffered the full penalty for your sins. Think about that, He died for your sins. His death is proof that He loves you, and if He loves you, it also means He values you! And if He values you, it means that in Him, you become accepted and “good enough.” In Him your self-worth is beyond calculation.

His promise is to never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He promises to keep you saved (Hebrews 7:25, Jude 1:24). And amazingly, he gives you the assurance that you are permanently saved. Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). “All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day” (John 6:37-40).

And finally, He both understands and feels your pain and suffering. And so, you no longer have to suffer pain alone ever again. (Isaiah 53:3-4, Mat. 11:28, John 11:35, 16:30, 21:17, Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 1:30).

To summarize: (1) You were born so you can know God who created you. (2) The purpose of death and suffering is to motivate you to seek God who desires to save you. (3) Living your life in union with Jesus Christ is the new and most important focus for living your life. It is your spiritual and most important focus of all your behaviors. (4) Everything you do now in union with Christ will have meaning for eternity. (5) Because God imparts Christ’s righteousness to you, you stand approved and righteous before God. By Him you are made perfect (Col. 1:22, Heb. 10:22). All of this is explained in the New Testament in the Bible. I always suggest that when someone comes to faith in Christ that they read first the Gospel of John.

Steps to Salvation

1. Be sorry for your sins and turn your life over to God.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

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

Prayer is simply you talking to God, believing He hears you. In your own words Tell Him what you are sorry about.

2. Believe that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24

In your own words, continue with your prayer and tell Him that you believe He died for your sins and that you are thankful.

3. Ask Jesus Christ to come into your life and be your Lord and Savior.

“God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). See also Ephesians 3:17.

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

In your own words, ask Jesus to come into your heart and be your Lord and Savior. When you are finished, tell Him, “Thank you Lord Jesus.”

4. Make a commitment to learn more about Him and to grow in your faith.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 2 Peter 3:18

“Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2

“But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation — if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” Colossians 1:22-23

Next you will need to grow in your knowledge of Jesus Christ as well as grow in faith. Yearn to learn more and more about Him, and yearn to love Him more and more. Get a Bible and start by reading the Gospel of John. Find a Bible believing church and start attending it. Find someone who is a knowledgeable Christian who can help you. Join a Bible study group.

* Florida.https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2013/DecJan/Animals/Animal-Mourning

This article was written by John DeMarco, Bradenton, Florida

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