​

 

 Jesus Christ came as a Saviour of the world.

 

'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall 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)

 

God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to save us but why do we need saving?

 

THE ORIGINAL PLAN

 

God loves humanity.  God loves YOU! His original plan was for humanity to live in perfect relationship with Him. To experience His love and presence, to hear His voice and speak freely with Him.  To know His acceptance and approval.  To feel totally secure and full of joy. To be free and at peace. In His original plan for us, there was no fear, no suffering, no condemnation, no shame, no guilt, no anger, no jealousy, no despair, no destruction, no death. In fact, there were no negative feelings, experiences or thoughts at all.  Just perfect, eternal life!

 

THE DISTORTED PLAN

 

So, what went wrong?  We read in chapter 3 of the first book of the Bible called Genesis, how Adam and Eve, the first humans,  were tempted by the serpent into disobeying God and how their disobedience or sin caused them to be separated from God and lose their perfect relationship and eternal life with Him.  The consequences of their disobedience or sin was separation from God, living life in a world where they now had to endure pain, suffering and death. And that's the world that the rest of humanity were born into because of the consequences of sin -  a broken world, a distorted life, no longer perfect as God originally planned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE SALVATION PLAN

 

God's love for humanity is greater than our mistakes, failings and disobedience.  His desire for us to be in relationship with Him and to live according to His original plan was so great that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to repair the damage caused by Adam and Eve's disobedience and to make a way for us to be reunited with God.  By shedding His blood on the cross when He was crucified, Jesus Christ paid the price for our sin.  He died as a sacrifice for us so that the sins of all of humanity would be forgiven. When God raised Jesus Christ up from the dead three days later and seated him at His right hand, He showed the world His acceptance of His Son's sacrifice on behalf of humanity and, with it, His acceptance of everyone that has faith in His Son. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ, God also showed that a way had been made, through His Son, for humanity to be reunited with Him to once again experience His love, joy, peace, freedom, acceptance, security and eternal life.

 

THE PERSONAL PLAN

 

Jesus Christ has made a way for all of humanity to be reunited with God and the life He planned.  However, part of God's original plan was for each of us, personally,  to have our own relationship with Him.  And, the first step in that relationship is for us to respond personally to His gift of salvation and reconciliation through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour.  When we personally respond to God's salvation plan, our new life according to God's original plan begins!

 

How do I personally respond to the gift for salvation?