I'm not sure where you are in your faith. For that matter, I'm not even sure if you believe in God. I'm not sure what made you pick up this book and start reading. Maybe it was the title--True Grit for Teens-- the nitty gritty and not so pretty real stuff that God want you to know--that caught your attention.
Whatever the reason you're reading this book and wherever you are in your faith, you are not here by accident.
It's a divine appointment. You could be reading MAD magazine right now, but you chose this little book.
And God wanted you to pick it up. In fact, He was counting on it.
It's not because He wanted you to read my pithy chapters. It has to do with more with the fact (not the theory) that He loves you.
He loves YOU.
And He wants a relationship with you.
How do you enter in? Easy.
Think about the thief on the cross. (For details on that guy, read Luke 23:40-43 (NIV) in the Bible.)
There were two guys, criminals, who hung on two crosses on each side of Jesus during His cruxifiction.
One of the thugs challenged Jesus, saying in essence, "if you're really God, get yourself and us off these crosses." Rude, right?
The second criminal said (Monika paraphrase), "Don't talk down to Jesus, He's GOD. Aren't you freaked out to talk to God that way when you've been sentenced to die? We deserve the electric chair for our crimes, but this man hasn't done anything wrong." Then he turned to Jesus and said, "Jesus, remember me when you get to heaven."
Jesus showed tremendous compassion and love when He said, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
HOW COOL IS THAT? A total "loser" by the world's standards was instantly FORGIVEN of all of his mistakes and ASSURED ENTRY INTO PARADISE???!!!!
A low-budget con artist type with front row seats to eternity.
Notice how Jesus didn't make this guy jump through hoops or be good or act religious and wear his hair a certain way or even attend church to be ushered into heaven? All the thief had to do was BELIEVE that Jesus was WHO HE SAID HE WAS, REPENT (This guy was humbled in the presence of God and knew that he had done wrong. He was sorry and asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus gave him much more than he'd ever asked for--serious GRACE), and then he RECEIVED salvation.
It's that simple and you can have the same privilege. The same grace ticket. The same hope for eternity and the same joy and peace.
You're invited. Your place at the feast is assured; all you have to do is accept the invitation.
Pray this prayer (or your version of it),
"God, I want a relationship with Jesus. I want to be set free. I know that I have relied on my own limited thinking to get by. I've been selfish, I've held onto resentments, I've been full of fear, mistrust and disbelief. I'm ready to trade that junk in for a new life. God, I want Jesus as my Lord and my Savior. I want to experience the love that comes only from accepting Your Son, Jesus, into my life. In Jesus' name, amen."
If you just prayed that prayer, don't stop there. Get involved in a church, start praying daily, read your Bible (you might want to start with the book of John), and hang out with some other Christ followers. Your life is about to radically change. (P.S. I'd love to hear from you if you did just pray that prayer, so that I can hear your story and pray for you too.)
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