I want to be a Christian – Now What?
Published by Di Allen at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Di Allen
Co-authored by Di Allen & Sharon Edwards
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Index
Seeing things the way God sees it
How to read God’s written messages
Welcome
Are you thinking about, or do you want to become a Christian (a follower of Jesus)? If that’s you, you might be wondering how to go about it and what comes next. We hope this will help you.
What’s a Christian?
A Christian is a person who believes in God, as he’s shown in the Bible. It’s someone who’s heard about Jesus, and decided they want to be like him and follow his (Jesus’) ways.
Being a Christian isn’t joining a religion; it’s not just deciding you believe something. It’s more than that - it’s having a relationship with God – learning his ways and getting to know him - and it’s about choosing to live the way God planned.
Can we really get to know God? That sounds pretty amazing, doesn’t it? The answer is, yes, we can. How can this be? It’s because of what God has done for us.
Seeing things the way God sees it
Right back at the beginning, God made us a very good world, and people were the highlight of that. People were given the privilege of knowing God and managing everything for him. But they got tricked into thinking they’d like to be top dog and so tried to take over. They ended up breaking the good world God had made. The name the Bible gives this is sin, and God hates it.
Who knows that when you do something wrong you have to deal with the consequences? That bad choice meant things like sickness, messed-up relationships, meanness and fighting all became part of our life. But worst of all, God couldn’t hang round with us, because God hates evil things.
Now some people tried to make up with God by doing the right thing and making sacrifices, and God even chose a group of those people to wear his name – they became the people called the Israelites. He’d be with them and help them with their problems. But nothing ever lasted very long, because sooner or later even they’d stop caring and go back to doing things their way. The problem was back! It was like we’d all been infected with this bad gene, and nothing we tried could fix it.
It’s the same with people today. Lots of people feel they’d like to be right with God. Some people try out different religions; they hope they’ll find the right god somewhere. Other people try to be very good (they think that if they're good God will like them), and still others think going to church will make them right with God. You might even know some people like that. But it’s still like we’ve all been infected with this bad gene, and nothing we try can fix it.
Luckily, God had a plan, and it involved his son Jesus. Jesus lived in heaven with God, and when the world was made Jesus was part of it. He hated things being broken and God being sad about it. He knew people should really die for what they did because God said that’s the consequence for not living God’s way.
Jesus volunteered to come and live here as a person, to show us how it should be done and to make a way for us to get back to being right with God again.
So Jesus came. He was born as a baby and grew up and became a man. He lived God’s way the whole time and was the only person ever who lived the perfect life. He died on the cross, even though he’d done nothing wrong.
God loves us, and he allowed Jesus to take the punishment for everything you and I do (and have done) wrong – big things, and little things.
The Bible says that we’ve all sinned – not one of us is perfect (I’m glad I’m not the only one!).
But Jesus came. He was perfect, and when he died he did a swap. He took all our badness and died for it, and gave us his goodness. That’s a pretty good swap deal, don’t you think?
All that Jesus did makes us right with God – but only if we want to be.
Do you know that some people refuse to take what God is giving them? They don’t want to be friends with God. That’s sad - and it makes God sad too, because he wants everyone to be his friends.
Back to our story! Thankfully God didn’t leave Jesus dead. When Jesus had finished all he had to do for us, God took him back to heaven to be with him, and now he’s alive for ever more. That’s good news.
God’s given us something else too. When Jesus was here he told us that when he got back to heaven he’d send the Holy Spirit to help us. Jesus said it would be even better than if he was here in person, because he could only be in one place at a time. The Holy Spirit can be with everyone. It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to remind us about Jesus and help us live as Christians.
So if you believe in your heart that Jesus died in your place, and if you believe that God brought him back from the dead, and now he's with God in heaven, then you’re on the right track. Don’t forget to give God thanks for all he’s done for you.
If you’re still not quite sure, why don’t you ask God to show you? He will.
What are the benefits?
Fred belonged to a poor family. They always had just enough, but they never had any extras. Fred grew up. He worked hard, but he didn’t have a very good job. He had just enough, but he never had any extras.
Fred’s brother had moved to Australia. Fred used to get letters from Vic. (It was in the days before emails!) The letters told how wonderful the new country was, and how well Vic was doing. Vic worked hard too. He always had enough; in fact he had as much as he wanted!
Vic used to tell Fred to come join him in Australia. It was a great place to live and there were lots of opportunities to enjoy the good life. Fred wished he could go, but he didn’t even have enough money to get there. It was a long, long way.
One day Fred got a letter from Vic. As he opened the letter something fell out. What was it? Fred couldn’t believe it – it was a one way ticket to go to Australia by ship. Quickly Fred read the letter from Vic. Vic was rich now. He said that if Fred would come and join him in Australia he’d be able to look after him and give him everything he needed. Wow, what an offer!
Fred didn’t have to be persuaded. Quickly he packed his bags. Mind you, he didn’t have much to take! The trip would last quite a few weeks. Fred used most of his money to stock up on food for his long trip. He bought dry biscuits, cheese and bread, milk and fruit. He counted up the days and decided that he should have enough to last the distance. He also took lots of water to drink.
The voyage was long and slow. Fred spent his time in his cabin. It was quite cozy. He had a nice bunk and a small table and seat. Each day Fred ate just a little bit of his supplies. First he ate the bread and drank the milk, because he knew they wouldn’t keep well. The fruit lasted a week or so. When they were all gone he ate the biscuits and drank the water. It wasn’t much, but he kept reminding himself that once he got to where he was going he’d have everything he needed. That helped a bit, but not much really. He was getting sick of dry biscuits and water (I’m sure I would be too, wouldn’t you?).
They were nearly there, just a couple of days to go. But the biscuits had all gone now, and Fred’s tummy was rumbling (does yours ever do that?). He decided he’d go out of his cabin and see if there were any jobs he could do to earn a bit of money. That way maybe he could get enough to go upstairs and buy a meal. He’d heard other people going upstairs for meals all the time, but they had money, and he didn’t.
Fred went out and looked around. He saw a man who looked as though he worked on the ship. He went up to him. He explained that he was hungry and wondered if there was anything he could do to earn some money to buy a meal.
The man looked at him in surprise. “Didn’t anyone tell you?” he said. “All the meals are included in the price of the ticket! It’s all been paid for. You can go upstairs any time and have whatever you want!”
Fred had been missing out big time!
That’s a made up story, but you might wonder what you get if you do become a Christian. First up you get to be with God for ever. When you die you’ll go to be with him in heaven. That’s something to really look forward to!
But if you thought that was all there was to it, you’d be missing out big time. You see, you’re right with God now. He has big plans for you, plans to give you a hope and a future that’s better than you can imagine. You get to start living life the way it was planned to be, and also to see where you can help make the rest of the world the way God intended.
Mind you, sometimes there are hard things along the way. Becoming a Christian doesn’t mean everything in life will be easy and fun. Not everyone wants the world the way God designed it. Many Christians are badly treated – but they know it’s worth it, because God’s with them, and in the end he’ll win!
Now what?
This next part is for people who want to follow Jesus, they want to be Christians.
Welcome to the family
When you become a Christian you become part of God’s family. He’s the dad, Jesus is the big brother and everyone else who believes Jesus has saved them are the kids. That means you have lots and lots of Christian brothers and sister now.
Find a Christian you know and tell them what you’ve decided. It might be a parent or family member; it might be a friend – or someone you can look up to because they’re a Christian. (If you’re stuck, you could contact us for help – see the email address in contacts below.)
It’s very hard to be a Christian by yourself. The first thing I’d suggest is to find some other Christians to hang out with. Do you know some Christians or belong to a church already? Make sure you get together with them as often as you can. When you go to church, you can learn more about God and be encouraged to keep going by others who think like you.
(By the way just going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. Does going to McDonalds make you a burger? You have to decide for yourself that you want to be a Christian. Even kids whose parents are Christians have to decide for themselves.)
Get comfortable with God
It’s all very well to say God’s your dad, but what if you don’t know him well and that idea’s a bit strange? You mightn’t feel that close to him yet. But you can do things to help. If you had a grandma you only saw once in five years, it would be hard to feel close to her too. But if you started seeing her every year at Christmas and birthdays, and then she wrote you emails that you read, and you started talking on the phone, do you think that would change? Of course it would! It’s like that with God. There are ways you can get to know him too, and the more you do them, the better it gets.
The main three ways are going to church, reading his notes and letters (they’re not in email though, they’re in the Bible!), and talking with him (but not on the phone or skype, but in prayer). The more often you do these things, the more you’ll know and be comfortable with your God-dad.
We all know that some people have dads who’re a bit (or a lot) uncaring! The good news is that your God-in-heaven dad is NOT like that. He’s a perfect dad, who loves you more than anybody else ever will.
How to read God’s written messages
Billy was walking along the beach. It was night time. He could see a million stars – at least he thought there must be that many. He tried counting, but he gave up. Have you ever been away from the city lights and looked up at the sky? You can see sooooo many stars!
Billy had been thinking about God. Surely there must be a God who made all those stars he could see. He wondered how far they went.
Billy really wanted to believe in God – but he found it a bit hard. All his friends gave him a hard time if he said anything about it.
Billy looked at the stars again, and then he looked at the dark, wide ocean. If only God had put it in writing ……
Guess what, God has put it in writing!
The Bible shows us what God’s like. It starts with how he created the world, and it goes through lots and lots of stories about people and God. It also contains letters and instructions and poems to help us.
In the Old Testament it tells about the people of Israel. God chose them to be his own special people, and sometimes they followed him and other times they didn’t. We can learn a lot from that! All through the Old Testament we also find things that point to Jesus and what he would do for us.
When we come to the New Testament we have stories about Jesus when he was here on earth and all the things he taught us about God, and all the good things he did for the people. After these stories, (we call them stories, but it’s actually real history – things that did happen), the New Testament tells us what happened to the friends of Jesus after he died and rose to life and went to be with God. We find out how the church started and what they taught the people.
As we read the Bible we learn what God’s like, and the truth about him. Some people have their own ideas about God, but if it doesn’t agree with what the Bible says, they’re wrong.
It’s good to spend a little bit of time each day reading the Bible. You don’t have to read a lot (although you could!). Just read a story or a paragraph and then think about it. Does it tell you something about God? Or yourself? Or a problem? Maybe it makes you think of something you could do. This is a way God speaks to us. We read something in the Bible and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit shows us something about God that we didn’t know before.
If you’ve read some of Grammy’s Investigator books that’s a good start to reading the Bible. There are lots of stories there that encourage us and help us know how good God is. It’s good to actually use a bible as well. Lots of bibles today are written so they’re easier to understand, so that helps. You can even find some online!
Where’s a good place to start reading? Well, you could start at the beginning. That’s where you start most books, and that’s alright for a while, but before long you come to some bits that seem quite boring.
A good place to start might be the book of Luke. You’ll find it in the New Testament. If you don’t know your way around very well there’s usually an index. The book of Luke was written by a doctor. He was right there when Jesus was alive and he checked everything out with eye witnesses so he could be sure that what he was writing was true. It’s good to read about Jesus. Why don’t you give it a try?
How to talk with God
Talking with God is easy, because as Christians he lives with us through his Holy Spirit. So anytime you feel like it, you can have a chat. You don’t need a phone or webcam; you can just start talking, because he’s right there! Or, if it seems a bit strange to talk out loud to someone you can’t see, you could just “talk” in your head. Now you can come to God any time of day or night – he’s always waiting for you to remember him (he’s with you all the time, it’s just that sometimes we forget!).
It can help to find a place you can call your special meeting place - maybe your bedroom, or outside somewhere - and have a set time. Then talk to him. It’s called prayer, but it’s only talking to God and it’s not hard – you don’t have to use any special words. God already knows what’s in our heart – it’s really for our own good that we use words to talk to him. When talk to God out loud it makes what we are saying more real for us.
God loves you very much; tell him that you love him too. He’ll be pleased with that. And don’t forget to thank him for all the good things he’s given us, and done for us. Thank him for sending Jesus to die for us. Thank him for your home and your family and all the wonderful things he’s made in the world for us to enjoy.
Then you can ask him to help you with things that are going on in your life. He loves to answer our prayers. If it’s something he agrees with, he’ll be only too glad to give it to you. But if he knows it wouldn’t be the best thing for you he might say no, or he might say wait. He knows what’s best for us because he knows everything.
By the way, don’t do all the talking! Spend time learning to listen to God. He does talk to us you know. If you’ve become a Christian, did you know that you’ve already heard God speaking to you? You probably didn’t even know it, but it was the Holy Spirit whispering inside you that made you even want to know more about God and Jesus.
How does God speak to us? Mostly it’s not in a loud voice, although some people have heard it out loud. Mostly it’s not in a dream or an angel visit, although some people have heard God speak that way. Mostly it’s just little thoughts that come into your mind. If you stop and ask God to speak to you, something might pop into your mind. Be careful not to ignore it. The more you listen, the easier it is to hear! You get to recognize it after a while. It’s the Holy Spirit helping us.
You can be sure though that God would never tell you things that aren’t good. If it doesn’t agree with what God’s like in the Bible then it’s not God speaking to you. God is love, and anything he says is loving and good.
Another thing – remember that Jesus promised he’d send the Holy Spirit as a free gift to help us? Don’t forget to ask Jesus to fill you with his Holy Spirit, just as he promised. He told us that God's ready and waiting to give us the Holy Spirit, we just have to ask. Now there’s another thing to say thank you for!
Do you know that the more time we spend with someone the more we become like them? The more time you spend with God, the more you’ll become like him.
Live it out
Jessie loved the idea of sailing. She had pictures of boats up on her wall, she watched tv shows about sailing across the oceans, she talked to her friends about it and she read books on how to sail, she even joined a sailing club! But it wasn’t until she actually got on a boat and was taken sailing out on the water that she really knew what it was like. The wind flipped her hair around and the spray kept making her wet, but, oh, sailing was magnificent!
Just like Jessie, you can know a lot about being a Christian, but it’s not until you start putting God’s ideas about how to live into action that it really makes sense and you start to know how great it is. God’s plans for you are good, but you’re the one who has to live your life. Did you read something in the Bible about being brave and doing what’s right? Have a go. God will help you! Did someone at church talk about forgiving someone who’s been mean? Try doing it! God has a whole world full of people he wants to get back being friends with, and he’ll use you and how you talk and live to convince others he’s real.
Of course, you’ll mess it up sometimes (everyone else does too!), but Jesus has already done the work of fixing that. So tell him you’re sorry, and get back to living well. Being a Christian’s not just good for you, it’s good for everyone!
Choose good friends
You might think that because Jesus has paid the penalty for everything we do wrong it won’t matter what we do. But how could we do wrong things when we know all that Jesus did for us? We want to be like him.
It’s a good move to hang around with other kids who are on the right track. Growing up brings lots of challenges, so it’s wise to be around others who can encourage you and help you to do the right thing. They can help you, and you can help them! It’s easier to do the right thing if someone else is doing it too, isn’t it? So choose your friends wisely.
I was given a vase for my birthday and in the bottom of the vase were some small pebbles to help the flowers stay in the right place. In the middle of the night I woke up and I could see the vase. Everything all around was dark – except in the bottom of the vase! Light was glowing brightly. Someone had put something special into those stones. It made them glow.
God put something special into us when we became a Christian. He lives in us through the Holy Spirit.
I put the stones into a container with a lid on, to take and show my friends. When I took the lid off, the stones didn’t glow any more! Why? Because they hadn’t been in the light! They needed to spend time in the light so they could shine. We need to spend time with God so we can shine.
One stone by itself only made a little bit of a glow – but when they were together they shone brightly. When we’re with Christian friends we can be a brighter light to show others round about us that it’s good to live the way God intended. It’s the way of love. Jesus said we must love one another. I don’t mean the sloppy kind of love, but the sort of love where we do the best for each other. When we love one another it demonstrates God’s love to the world. That’s living life the way God intended, and that’s what will make it worthwhile.
Contact information
We hope you’ve been helped by this. If you need any more information or we can help you in any way our email address is: ispygiclub@hotmail.com
If you’d like to read lots of bible stories in the Grammy's Investigator Series (including a free book) or if you’d like to find out about our I Spy GI Club go online and click the links above.
Remember! You’re special, God loves you!