A Simple Letter to a Friend

My Dear Friend,

After so many conversations, I am always interested in expressing how Jesus Christ impacted my life almost 50 years ago and increased in His value to me after so many years.  One of the things that I hope for the most is to meet my friends and family at the gates of heaven where we will enjoy an amazing eternity with a loving God.

I know that you have little respect for most organized religions.  I can’t say that I disagree with you.  In fact, Jesus often criticized religious groups as form without substance, and rule-makers who didn’t live for God.

However, please know that Jesus Christ is not a religion, but a person who walked this earth, lived a sinless life, and offered His life on the cross as a blood sacrifice to atone for our sins.

The Bible says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness for sin”, and that is why Israel sacrifice sheep.  The penalty for sin is death, but we are told that the “Gift of God is eternal life” and Jesus was that gift.  As John the Baptist said as he first saw Jesus, “Blessed is the lamb that takes away the sins of the world.”

One verse says, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name given under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

So, God did not make redemption difficult for anyone who bears the guilt for mistakes, failures, and wrongs we have done.  We all stand condemned by our own participation in a wayward life. 

Jesus’ death was a substitute death for us.  He paid the blood price to satisfy the bounty obligation for sin.  And He offers that GIFT to each person, not through religious practices, but by the sheer exercise of placing our faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross. 

The key to heaven is a covenant or deal.  First, He offers a payment for our sins and an eternity in heaven.  Second, we extend the arms of faith by admitting our need and accepting Jesus Christ as our savior.

After that, there is nothing we owe God.  We are freed slaves who volunteer to follow the steps of One who loved us and gave us His son so that we might inherit something we could not earn on our own.

A Christian is simply understood as one who decides to follow Jesus Christ much like the disciples left their fishing nets behind when He told them to “Follow Me”.

Like a marriage, this is a binding covenant between two people.  Neither made the marriage.  Both AGREED to the terms.  So, we are not slaves, but free to follow God in the way we see best.

However, guidance is offered because this may be new and high ground for us.  That guidance is the Bible.  It’s best to start with the book of John and spend time each day collecting a morsel of truth that we may not understand at the moment, but clarity will come with time.

As a good friend, I enjoy your friendship though at a distance.  I would hope that one day, you and I will shed these worn-out bodies and see each other in heaven.  That would be amazing.

I do not know all you have been through, but one thing I sincerely hope is that I can show others the singular truth, that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except by Me (Jesus).

The transaction of accepting Jesus as savior happens in a moment of time, as we decide to trust Christ as our savior from sin and door to heaven.

“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your hearts that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”  Romans 10:9-10

With appreciation of your friendship