Why I’m a Christian
Why am I a Christian?
Knowing full well that God is holy, how else on earth could I possibly be reconciled to a holy God apart from the work of Christ?
There is no other way besides Christ. There is no other end but to be standing (more likely kneeling, face on the floor) before God at the end of it all. It does not matter if you’re a God denier or believer, the end will be the same. Reality doesn’t take our opinions into account.
The fact is, God is supremely holy. The Bible mentions holiness 416 times in the Old Testament and 230 times in the New. God’s holiness and our needing to strive for it as the bar to match for reconciliation with God is a core theme of scripture. God’s holiness is what sets him apart and is the seal on why without Christ we’re damned. It’s his chief attribute, the one we must understand the rest of His by.
God’s holiness is on a level we can never achieve. It’s also where the bar is set (Lev. 11:44-45, 19:2, 20:26, 1 Sam 2:2, Isaiah 5:16, 35:8, Hosea 11:9, Psalm 22:3, 1 Peter 1:15-16, etc…).
In the opening chapters of Isaiah; Isaiah is given a vision of the throne room of God where the angels proclaim on repeat,
Isaiah 6:3 (ESV): 3 And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
In Hebrew, in order to emphasize something as very specifically important, as if it were a source of truth, it would be repeated twice. God being described as holy 3 times is an enormous deal. God’s holiness is His single most emphasized attribute, pointing the fact that His holiness is His chief attribute.
It is that God is supremely and absolutely holy. He is absolutely set apart [from all sin].
I’ve herd a lot of people say they believe in God, but really in the end he’ll say they’re ‘good’ enough. Or really everyone will eventually get in [to heaven]. But the problem is God is holy. It does not matter what I do. I will never achieve holiness. I could be incredibly generous and say I lived 1/10 of my life perfectly with no sin, and I’d have no chance of heaven without Christ. I’m not holy. In this absurdly generous scenario I’m still 9/10 bad, 1/10 good.
As previously stated, God’s standard is holiness.
1 Peter 1:15–16 (ESV): 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
He also shows us that with any sin we are all out of chances. There’s no earning it back. There is no making up for it. It’s one strike you’re out, and let’s be real, I lost track of my strikes before I could count. I think we’d all have jaws dropped to really see how many strikes we’ve had. We know we are all guilty of sin.
Romans 3:23 (ESV): 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The cop out answer I hear most is that God’s is love, and because He ultimately is love than he must tenderly invite everyone to heaven after they die, despite their lack of salvation. It’s too bad we miss what scripture says here.
John 14:6 (ESV): 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Revelation 20:11–15 (ESV): 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
God’s love is a holy love. It is that Jesus Christ willingly lived as a man on earth some 2000 years ago, perfectly, 10/10. He was then crucified and on him was laid the holy righteous wrath and judgement of The Father on himself, satisfying our right judgement for sin.
1 Peter 2:24 (ESV): 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Galatians 3:13 (ESV): 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
Romans 5:9 (ESV): 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
I believe the only way I can be right with God is by the fact that Christ died in my place. He took all of the wrath God rightly had set for me, on himself. In turn, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to those who place faith in the work he has completed. Christ’s righteous is given to me.
Romans 3:24–26 (ESV): 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
So why am I a Christian? Because Jesus has paid my debt and by His sacrifice I am made right with God.
There is no other way in this world to live that makes an iota of sense than to live for Christ. It is all that there is, it is all that truly matters, it is the only thing. Everything else falls away when you look at what He has done for you. Go follow Christ.
