What does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ - a personal testimony

The bible says "A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." (Deuteronomy 19:15b, NIV).   One testimony of who Jesus Christ is comes from the bible itself.  Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29, NIV).  In my own life I have come to understand that Jesus truly provides rest for the soul that comes only from a relationship with him.  I can therefore be a second witness in the matter of eternal life in Christ.

I was raised in a Christian home by real people struggling to live a Christian life.  There, and in the days since,  I learned that being a Christian doesn't mean being perfect.  It's the only religion that doesn’t require perfection.  It’s based on grace through Jesus Christ alone.  Most other religions urge their followers to be "good people", so that they might earn favor with God, or that they might pass on to a better life somehow.  Jesus offers grace.  Grace is getting something you don’t deserve.  Once I came to the point where I saw that I’d never be good enough to stand in the presence of a holy, righteous God, I realized I needed someone who could help me…who could save me.  Jesus was that person.

The bible says, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command." (John 15:13-14, NIV).  Jesus did just this when he gave himself as a sacrifice for my sin on the cross.  The only thing I needed to do was clearly stated in John 6:29:  "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."  Jesus was the one sent by God to pay for my sins.  Jesus was the one who lived the perfect life for me.  He was the only one who could provide the perfect sacrifice in death for me.  God accepted his sacrifice when he raised him from the dead and today Jesus stands at the right hand of God Almighty as my advocate, because I have believed in him.  It is because of Jesus that I will be able to stand before that righteous, holy God.  I’ll spend eternity with God because I trust that Jesus will declare to his Father, "he’s with me!".  That’s grace.

My favorite verse in the entire bible is:  "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." (1 Peter 3:18a).  What a beautiful picture of the gospel message.  This verse says to me:

1) Christ alone is righteous; I am not.
2) He died for my unrighteousness (sins).
3)  If I ask him to forgive me for my sins, he will bring me to God because he lives today.

He’ll do the same for you.  All you need to do is ask him to in prayer.  If you’d like to talk to me about this I invite you to email me at kurtnichol@comcast.net.

Dr. Kurt L. Nichol