{"id":10,"date":"2018-08-15T18:41:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T18:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/?p=10"},"modified":"2018-10-08T21:10:15","modified_gmt":"2018-10-08T21:10:15","slug":"why-are-you-a-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/2018\/08\/15\/why-are-you-a-christian\/","title":{"rendered":"Why are you a Christian?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why are you a Christian? Have you thought about how you would answer this question? Would you agree with the statement: I am a Christian because God loves me? Perhaps you\u2019re not even sure why you invited Jesus into your heart.<\/p>\n

\"Scripture<\/p>\n

He loves you so much that He is willing to forgive everything<\/em> you have done, and will do, in defiance of Him. He loves you so much that He sent His one and only son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for you so He can forgive your sins\u2014because He knew you could not earn His forgiveness on your own. How enormous must His love be?!<\/p>\n

God\u2014Creator of the entire universe and everything we know; yes, that guy<\/strong>\u2014<\/em>desperately wants to have a loving relationship with you<\/em>, and one that renews every single day.<\/p>\n

Ok, so .\u00a0.\u00a0. why<\/em>? Why does God love me? And what should I do about that?<\/p>\n

The very brilliant Vince Antonucci, author of God for The Rest of Us<\/a>, and pastor of The Verve church on the Las Vegas strip, explains God\u2019s all-encompassing love for every one of us:<\/p>\n

God\u2019s Love for Us All<\/h1>\n

Written by Vince Antonucci, excerpt from the booklet <\/em>God\u2019s Love for the\u00a0Rest of Us<\/a><\/p>\n

The Bible says God is love. Not just that he can be loving. He is<\/em> love.<\/p>\n

Because he is love, God created us for relationship with him.<\/p>\n

Because he is love, God offers us grace.<\/p>\n

\"Neon<\/p>\n

Jesus once told a story to help us understand God\u2019s love and his offer of grace.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story about a father who had two sons. This dad was a great and loving father, but even so, there came a point when the younger son decided he\u2019d had enough of home. He wondered if there was something better out there, and he wanted to go looking for it. He no longer wanted to live his father\u2019s way. He was tired of being good and following the rules. He went to his father and said, \u201cI\u2019m leaving, and I\u2019m never coming home. If I stayed here, when you die, you\u2019d give me half of your inheritance, so I\u2019d like you to just give it to me now.\u201d Basically, he was saying, \u201cDad, I wish you were dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amazingly, his father was so loving and so respected his son\u2019s free will (even to make bad choices) that he said yes and gave his son the money.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

So the son set off and ended up in a faraway land, living a life that was the opposite of everything his father had ever taught him. He wasted all of his father\u2019s money on girls .\u00a0.\u00a0. and drinking\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. and you name it. And he sort of enjoyed it for a while, but pretty soon he was out of money. And he discovered that people weren\u2019t so interested in partying with him when he wasn\u2019t paying for the party. His life started going downhill and finally hit rock bottom when he got a job feeding pigs. It was awful. He realized that the guys who worked for his father were treated better than he was. So he decided to go home. He assumed his father would never accept him back as a son, but he hoped maybe his father would be kind enough to give him a job and let him work on the farm.<\/p>\n

On the walk home, he practiced the speech he\u2019d give his father when he arrived: \u201cFather, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, but if you\u2019d maybe just let me work on your farm .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Beautiful<\/p>\n

What he didn\u2019t know was that from the moment he had left, his father had been sitting out on the front porch, staring down the road, hoping against hope, praying prayer after prayer that his son would come home. The father held this constant vigil, staring down the road, waiting for the first sign that his son was returning.<\/p>\n

And then it happened .\u00a0.\u00a0. a shadow. Could it be? The father\u2019s breath was taken away. Yes, it was! And the father bolted. He went running down the street to his son.<\/p>\n

In their culture men never<\/em> ran\u2014it was considered undignified. I don\u2019t know what the son was thinking when he saw his father running at him like that, but when his father got to him, the son immediately went into his speech: \u201cFather, I have sinned .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

But his father grabbed him .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u202fand hugged him. The son wriggled free and started again, \u201cFather, I\u202f.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d\u202fbut his speech was muffled as his father grabbed him again and wrapped him up in the biggest hug ever. Then the father shouted back to the house, \u201cEveryone, it\u2019s happened! My son! My son is home! My son was lost, but now he\u2019s found. He was gone, but he\u2019s come home! Come bring him something nice to wear. Prepare some food, get ready to eat and dance, we\u2019re having a party! My son is home!\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s grace. Grace means to get better than you deserve. What did that son deserve from his father? Punishment. Rejection. But he got a hug and a party. He got welcomed back into the family. And you have to wonder why. Why did the father run? Why the hug? Why the party? Why did he forgive? Because it was his son.<\/em> If you have a child, you understand. I mean, I would do anything for one of my kids. There\u2019s nothing they could do to make me stop loving them. That\u2019s God. That\u2019s God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

God is a great and loving Father, and no matter where we\u2019ve been or what we\u2019ve done, he would do anything for us. There\u2019s nothing we can do to make him stop loving us. And so God offers us far better than we deserve, and that\u2019s grace<\/em>. We can\u2019t earn anything from God. We just accept it.<\/p>\n

We come home.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

By the way, this is what makes Christianity different from the way any human being would approach God and different from every other world religion. It\u2019s this idea of grace.<\/p>\n

Humans believe we need to be deserving. We would never come up with grace.<\/p>\n

If you study the other religions of the world, you\u2019ll see that none<\/em> of them have this idea of grace. The core idea of every other world religion is that we have to earn<\/em> favor from God\u2014through our good works, by not sinning too much. Only Christianity says we can\u2019t earn it, but God loves us so much that he will forgive us and give us his good favor as a gift.<\/p>\n

This is where the story Jesus told got really interesting. It seemed like the story was over, with the joyful return of the younger son. But right as the father was announcing the party, the older son entered the story. He said, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d Dad said, \u201cYour brother, my son\u2014he\u2019s home. We\u2019re having a party!\u201d The older son said, \u201cBut I\u2019ve<\/em> worked for you. I\u2019ve<\/em> labored for you. I\u2019ve<\/em> never disobeyed. I\u2019ve<\/em> earned the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the natural way humans approach God. That\u2019s every other world religion. For them it\u2019s all about laboring for God, trying not to disobey, and earning God\u2019s favor. Christianity is the opposite: it\u2019s about grace; it says God loves you simply because you\u2019re his child. He loves you no matter what you\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s what the father said to this older son. He said, \u201cEarned it? What do you mean? You\u2019re my son. You can\u2019t earn my love. I love you .\u00a0.\u00a0. just because you\u2019re my son. And your brother here\u2014he couldn\u2019t lose my love, because he\u2019s my son.\u201d That\u2019s Christianity. That\u2019s God.<\/p>\n

God is love. God\u2019s love is perfect. There\u2019s nothing you could ever do to make him love you any more than he does right now. And there\u2019s nothing you could ever do to make him love you any less. You\u2019re not perfect, but his love for you is.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

So no matter why you left, no matter where you went, no matter what you\u2019ve done, no matter what you\u2019ve become, God is inviting you to come home. He\u2019s waiting to forgive you. He\u2019s offering his love to you. He wants a relationship with you. And you have a choice to make.<\/p>\n

Unless you have already come to the realization that your life without God is not what you want it to be,<\/p>\n

unless you\u2019ve already taken the journey home,<\/p>\n

unless you\u2019ve already expressed your repentance to God,<\/p>\n

unless you\u2019ve already felt his embrace and\u00a0received his forgiveness,<\/p>\n

God is waiting for you.<\/p>\n

The most important decision of your life awaits.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can\u2019t think of any reason why you wouldn\u2019t say yes. All the things you\u2019ve really been looking for, you\u2019ll find if you look to God.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Say yes. Tell him.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve said yes in the past, understand that God offers his invitation to you to come home every single day. And he wants us to accept it again every single day.<\/p>\n

I find that I have a lot of days when I\u2019m too busy or too distracted to come home to God.<\/p>\n

I also have days when I feel too dirty or too guilty to come home to God.<\/p>\n

But there is nothing in any far-off land better than what my Father is offering me at home.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s nothing I\u2019ve done to put myself out of the reach of his grace.<\/p>\n

So I listen, and I hear God calling out to me: Come home.<\/p>\n

Listen, because God is calling to you. He\u2019s been inviting you every day of your life; he is inviting you today; his call will go out to you every day of your future.<\/p>\n

Come home.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Vince Antonucci<\/strong>\u00a0pastors Verve, an innovative church that seeks to reach people who work on and live around the Las Vegas Strip. The upcoming television series\u00a0God for the Rest of Us<\/em>\u00a0will chronicle Vince\u2019s work there. In addition to writing books, Vince leads mission trips around the world, speaks nationwide, performs stand-up comedy in Las Vegas, and most of all, loves spending time with his wife, Jennifer, and their two kids.\u00a0vinceantonucci.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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Why are you a Christian? Have you thought about how you would answer this question? Would you agree with the statement: I am a Christian because God loves me? Perhaps you\u2019re not even sure why you invited Jesus into your heart. He loves you so much that He is willing to forgive everything you have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":98,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2,8,7],"tags":[21,22,20,24,23],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/unfoldingfaithblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}