Jesus said, “Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:15b)
Turn. Believe. God couldn’t have made it any easier for us to be saved from our sin and welcomed into His kingdom.
Yet, we think there must be more to it, more that we must do. Some churches even encourage this line of thinking. They promote, or at least imply, that doing good works, living according to their manmade religious laws, and denying oneself certain things are all requirements for pleasing God.
However, that’s not what Jesus said. “Turn . . . Believe.” That’s all He wrote.
Just a word of caution, though. While Jesus made it easy for us to be saved, it’s not a decision to be taken lightly. Jesus knows our thoughts. He is aware of just how desperately we want to turn away from wrongdoing. He can see our motives and knows the level of our sincerity. In Luke 14: 25-33, Jesus encourages us to count the cost of following Him, of believing in Him as our Savior and Lord.
When we sincerely want to rid ourselves of those behaviors and habits that we know are wrong, Jesus wipes our slate clean. When we honestly believe that out of His love for us, He willingly died in our place to take the punishment for those sins, Jesus welcomes us into the family of God. That’s all it takes!
Though we daily battle the temptation to fall back into old ways, Jesus gives us His Spirit to remind us and encourage us and strengthen us to remain faithful to Him, to turn again to Him when we fail, and to share this great Good News of forgiveness and acceptance with others.
It’s simple really. Turn. Believe. Are you ready to take that step?
Be encouraged!
