“God couldn’t possibly love someone like me. I have way too much sin. I’m not good enough.”
There’s a chance that most of us have had that thought at some point in our lives. It doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian for years or if it’s this thought that is keeping you from becoming a child of God.
Before we go much further, there’s something that we all need to understand. None of us are good enough. None of us deserve the salvation that God has graciously offered to us. We have all sinned (Romans 3:23), and for that we deserve death (Romans 6:23).
You may be thinking, “I know, Jonathan. I’ve heard that before. But you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know the kind of sins I’ve committed. There’s no way God can forgive someone like me. He wouldn’t let someone like me into heaven.”.
One thing is true. I (and others) likely don’t know the kind of sins you have in your life. Though some may be public, there may be many sins committed in private. If you truly understand what sin represents and the seriousness of it, it can be easy to lose hope of ever living with God for eternity.
However, life is not all doom and gloom. Before you give up on hope, listen to what the Bible says about a few individuals that you’ve likely heard of since childhood.
- Noah got drunk and laid naked for his sons to find him. (Genesis 9:20-22)
- Jonah disobeyed a direct command of God and instead did the exact opposite. (Jonah 1:1-3)
- Jacob lied and deceived his father to receive his brother’s blessing. (Genesis 27:1-29)
- Peter lied and cursed to save his own life rather than stand up for Christ (Matthew 26:69-75)
- Paul made it his life’s goal to persecute and destroy the Lord’s Church. (Acts 8:3)
- David had an affair and tried to cover it up with conspiracy and murder. (II Samuel 11)
If you knew nothing about these individuals other than the statements listed above, you would think that they were included in the scriptures only to be examples of what not to do. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
- Noah and his family were the only righteous people on Earth, and God chose them to carry on the human race by saving them on the ark (Genesis 6:5-10)
- Jonah repented and obeyed God to preach to Nineveh. As a result, a great city was saved from God’s wrath. (Jonah 3:1-10)
- Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, was the patriarch of the Children of Israel, God’s chosen people. (Genesis 35:9-12)
- Peter became known as one of the pillars of the Christian faith (Galatians 2:9), and he delivered one of the first ever gospel sermons that resulted in over 3,000 people being saved (Acts 2:14-41)
- Paul became one of the greatest, most influential figures the Lord’s Church has ever known, ultimately penning nearly half of the books of the New Testament.
- God called David a man after His own heart, and it was through his lineage that the world was brought a Savior. (Acts 13:22)
Rest assured that no matter how bad you think your life is, no matter how much sin you think you have, no matter how little you think God cares about you, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross is bigger. No person is too far gone that God will not accept him or her into his kingdom. Just like the father of the prodigal son, God is watching and waiting for you to return so that He can throw His arms around you and welcome you home (Luke 15:20).
Don’t get discouraged and think it’s not possible that God could ever love a sinner like you. He can and He does. He has used normal people like you and me, with all their sins, to accomplish great things for His kingdom. The difference is that those individuals repented and began to live a life obedient to God. It’s never too late for us to make that same decision.
“It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.” ~ I Timothy 1:15-16, penned by the apostle Paul ~