Hey Now, Youngster

I pray that this note finds you in the best of spirits, enjoying a good day.

In a previous post, I shared about being forgiven for all the wrong we have ever done. I want to expound on that a bit now. Some may feel as though they are not responsible in any wrongdoing. We are always responsible for our wrongdoing before God, as well as man. Let's get real and check this out.

Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen any little thing? How about lusted after another person? A truthful answer to these questions has to be yes! We are all guilty of these things.

So from a holy God's perspective, we are all lying, adulterous thieves. That is just the way it is. You cannot expect to get to heaven if your good deeds outweigh the bad. They won't. We all need forgiveness from God and from each other.

God sent His son, the man Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. You don't need to "get religion". You only have to go to God and admit that you need forgiveness, that you are willing to accept on faith that Christ died for your sins and mine. He does not want you to get clean first or make any other changes before coming to him. There is NOTHING necessary except your need! Yours and mine. Don't worry about getting right. He loves you unconditionally; nothing you do can ever make Him love you less, or more for that matter.

You start in prayer. Once you have had the conversation with God, you need to realize a few things. His Word, the Bible, states that, "all Scripture is inspired from God" (2 Tim 3:16). That if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (forgiven).

I love one verse of Scripture where a man was asking for healing of one he cared about. Jesus replied that as he believed, it would be done. He replied, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." The Lord just loved that! And brought the healing requested.

Please, if you are hurting, start with that conversation with God. Then read the Gospel account of Christ. Get a Bible. I'll talk to you again later.

[signature]