We were all born into a sinful world—destined to live a life in full pursuit of our own selfish desires. Sounds terrible, right? And you’re probably thinking, “I’m a good person!” or “I’m not sinful or selfish!” But the hard reality is that when we compare ourselves to a perfect and holy God, we are anything but good.

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If we were honest with ourselves for a moment, we would all admit that we lie, cheat, hate others, and look out for ourselves far more than we do for other people.

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In fact, the Bible reminds us that every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one who is sinless, perfect, or able to stand before God without completely freaking out, realizing that we simply don’t measure up.

But there is good news. From the moment sin entered the world, God was already working on a plan. The truth is, God created us to be so much more than we are—to do more than we believe is possible and to live for a far greater purpose than we could ever imagine. But sin got in the way.

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Yet God loves His creation and wants nothing more than to see humanity—the pinnacle of His creation—turn their hearts toward Him. But there’s just one problem.

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Sin cannot go unpunished.

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So, God needed a way to deal with the root cause of sin, its consequences, and to provide an escape from it into His presence forever.

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The answer was Jesus.

God sent His Son as the perfect representation of humanity to do three critical things for us:

1. Show us God’s ideal for humanity. We needed a real-life example—not just platitudes or good ideas that work in theory.

2. Take on the sins of the world. As the perfect man, Jesus bore the punishment we all deserve.

3. Provide a way forward.

 

This is God’s perfect love for us on display. And we call it salvation.

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So Jesus allowed Himself to die on a cross, taking on the sins of the world—past, present, and future. Though He committed no crime, He took the punishment for the crimes we commit.

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There He hung on a cross—beaten, whipped, stripped naked—publicly executed and buried in a borrowed tomb. A death we could never have imagined, but one that each of us deserves.

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But while that might be where our salvation starts, it’s not where it ends. Because if all Jesus did was die, we might feel grateful, but salvation would still be out of reach. Jesus needed to defeat death. And He did—three days later.

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Three days after He breathed His last breath on the cross, the women found the stone covering the tomb rolled away—and Jesus was nowhere to be found. He was, in fact, alive!

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Salvation begins with recognizing that we are sinners in need of a Savior. It means coming to grips with the fact that we can’t live the life we were designed to live without Jesus. But we can’t have Jesus until we first recognize our sin.

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Once we do that, we can invite Jesus into our lives and allow the Holy Spirit to take over. We are given new life, a new purpose, and a new mindset. Our entire world becomes centered on Jesus.

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Are you ready?