What does it really mean to become a Christian? Is everyone who believes in God a Christian? While being a Christian does mean that you believe in God, it is much more than that. Beliving in God is just the beginning. Jesus teaches us that God is our Father. This implies that He is accessible. As we learn more about Jesus, we discover that God is all about Love. He is crazy about us. He desires that all of mankind would know Him. The Bottom line is that following Jesus means not only believing in God but having the faith to believe that you can know God.

No height or depth can ever separate us from God's love. We can never run away from it. We can ignore it and pretend it is not real, but it will always be there.

Following Jesus begins with the recognition that you are loved and accepted by the God who created and sustains the world.

Call God by the name "Father" suggests one who gives life, supplies love, provides care, protects, guides, watches over, enables growth, and gives freedom. This is what God is like. Even when we do not acknowledge Him, God cares for us like a parent who cares for her children.

God knows us intimately and loves us totally. He knows everything about you and yet, nothing we have done or could do can make God love us less.

This step requires deep introspection of our innermost being. It is the first step that can make us feel vulnerable. It is okay. Do not be afraid. Remember that God loves you no matter what. Taking this second step means we see ourselves from God's perspective. He sees all of our flaws and we see all of our flaws. We call this sin. There is not a single person that has never sinned, except for Jesus. Romans tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of God's standards. All have lost the desire to serve God, and have no ability to save themselves. We see this truth in the realization that human failures, wrong choices, and stubborn self, will leave us guilty and powerless. Our habits can easily become addictions that are almost impossible to break. Human sin affects our whole society, creating a world full of injustice, greed, oppression, pornography, pollution, and violence.

Despite this sinfulness, God did not stop loving us or desiring fellowship with us.

John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not die but may have eternal life.” Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we gain the right to become daughters and sons of God and receive the sure hope that this new life will continue beyond death, bringing us into heaven. That’s the good news of the Christian faith! Following Jesus means becoming a son or daughter of Father God.

The New Testament uses several words to describe a genuine response to the gospel message. The first word is “repentance,” which in the original Greek literally means “turn around” or “change of mind.” It is a crucial part of responding to the good news of God’s grace.

When you hear the word “repentance,” you may think immediately of feeling or being sorry. Being sorry is not the main sense of the word “repentance” at all. To repent is to “turn around,” that is, to change the direction of your life. More than just a change in your emotions, repentance involves a change in your thinking and in your actions as a response to God's Grace.

Your will and your behavior will also change. True repentance means that you want to please God rather than yourself. You come to love what is good, noble, pure, and right. You experience a life directed outwardly to connect with others, rather than inwardly focused on yourself.

Faith is a keyword the New Testament uses to describe a genuine response to the good news. Accept what God has done by faith and receive salvation as a gift. Salvation cannot be earned. It is only available by faith that Jesus lived, died, and was raised from the dead, nailing our sin to the cross with Him.

Becoming a follower of Jesus is a covenant commitment. Jesus has kept His promise to take care of our sin and He now invites you to enter into a relationship with him through prayer, Bible reading, and worship.

We come to know and love God more and more through the Holy Spirit, who enters our hearts when we commit our lives to Jesus. Once we have committed our lives to Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live and work within us to mold us into daughters and sons of God. “When the Spirit of truth comes,” said Jesus in John 16:13–14, “he will guide you into all the truth…he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

Following Jesus involves a transformation of our whole lives out of gratitude to God. Obedience to God is an opportunity to express thanks to God for what God has done. This obedience is not seen as a means of winning approval, but of showing love and appreciation to God. Jesus taught his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

This understanding of life as gratitude has two important consequences.

First, it frees us from continual concern about our performance. We do not need to keep asking “Am I good enough?” because our purpose is simply to let our lives express our joy and gratitude because Jesus is good enough for us. Second, all of life is now seen as an opportunity to serve God.

One way Christians display gratitude is by worshiping God. We also express our gratitude through the way we treat our family members, perform our jobs, use our leisure time, vote, participate in community action, interact with neighbors, spend money, and bear witness to our faith.

We say thanks to God through all our efforts to share his love and compassion with the world. We say thanks in our efforts to invite people to church, work for justice, provide hospitality, donate blood, tutor a child, welcome a newcomer, or volunteer abroad or in our own community.

As Christians, we show our love for God by the way we relate to others. “Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11); “Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action” (1 John 3:18).

Our faith in Jesus is the best and biggest decision you will ever make! It can be difficult at first but this is great news. It is so good Jesus tells us to share in the joy that we have found and tell others about the freedom he offers. Tell those who don't yet know about God's great love.

Next, tell someone that already knows Jesus. If you are reading this on our website, you probably are connected with North Shore Church, but if you are not connected to any church, we invite you to join us or find a church in your area. We can help you do this.