MY TAKE: SO CLOSE YET SO FAR AWAY -- GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, SAD NEWS

The not-so-usual news these days is that it has been observed that a growing number of people seem to be turning to Christianity but the irony of it is that although those people ‘get to discover' who Jesus Christ is, most of them will only be brought by that knowledge to a close proximity of him and yet remain so very far away from the person of the begotten Son of God! That makes the unusual news a sad one.

Why? Put simply, it is because people fail to understand the reason and purpose of Jesus' coming into this world and what God desires each person to do in order for that purpose to be realized in their own individual lives. If people miss that message then the 'turning to the Christian religion' is not only a futile exercise but a tragic one. Consider these biblical facts:

1) Jesus did not come to establish a religion, nor to make people become good, nor to eradicate conflict among people and nations. The Bible --regardless of version or language -- is explicit in declaring that Jesus came "to seek and to save that which was lost", that he came so "that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly", and that "whoever believes on him will not perish but have eternal life". That, in fact, is what the Bible teaches as the 'gospel' or 'good news'. Christ came to establish peace in our hearts even while the conflict remains in the world around us.

2) The coming of Jesus Christ to save the humankind from sin -- i.e., salvation from the power of sin over us and from the wrath of God because of it -- is to demonstrate God's motive which is none other than His love, mercy and grace through Jesus' voluntary death on the cross as our substitute for paying the penalty of sin which is death or eternal separation from the presence of God. The 'bad news' is that each person is born a sinner and is already condemned and apart from turning from sin and coming by faith into a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ each one of us is lost forever! If I may repeat, that is the bad news, the basis of the need for the good news.

3) Beginning from Genesis (first book in the Old Testament) and ending in Revelations (last book in the New Testament) the focus is on the promised coming of Jesus as Christ or Messiah, the subsequent fulfillment thereof, the promise of His return at any day, and the fulfillment of God's ultimate plan to make a 'new heaven and a new earth' -- the kind that is way better than what everyone desires, dreams of and prays for.

So, given the preceding just exactly what must one do? In Matthew 7:21 Jesus teaches that “not all that says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father.” His will is each one must “come” to Him “in repentance” and thus be “born again” in the spirit (John 3:3). That translates to forgiveness and redemption.

Christianity therefore is not about membership in any particular religious group or an attempt at reformation of one’s wayward ways but about experiencing a personal transformation from within the heart as a consequence of salvation by God’s grace through faith in Christ on account of His “finished work” on the cross at Calvary (Ephesians 2:8-9)! Grace to you.