Luther was having a very challenging time in life. He never knew his biological father, and this led to a lot of confusion and anger. In his words, he was raised by the streets. Fast money meant survival not only for him, but for his mother and other younger siblings. He really never had a childhood and knew he had to do whatever it took to help put food on the table. After a stint in juvenile detention when he was 16, he could see where his life was headed, but he didn’t feel he could stop the trajectory he was on. her had always been pretty good with carpentry and as it turned out, community service mandated by the judge opened an opportunity. He got a chance to earn extra money while learning a trade, and this helped to keep him on the straight and narrow for a little while, but it didn’t last. The money wasn’t enough, and he was soon hustling again.
The next time he got caught, he was 23 years old and looking at serving time in prison. This was devastating on his family, especially his younger brother and sister. While waiting in jail for trial, he had a lot of time to think. Luther was exhausted because he felt he had been running non-stop since the day he was born. He didn’t know how, but he vowed to himself in jail that if he didn’t go to prison, he would make something of himself. For the first time in his life, he prayed, and it was a very simple prayer, “Lord, please help me to do it.”
He got off on a technicality and avoided prison, but times were very difficult at home. His siblings were older and needed things for school. His mother had been a custodian at a hotel for many years, but long hours and heavy lifting had taken its toll on her physically. The streets were calling, and he was under a lot of pressure. Luther didn’t know much about the Lord Jesus Christ, but he remembered the peace he had when he prayed in that jail cell. Before he went to bed one night, he figured he’d try praying again. And just as it was before, his prayer was a simple one, “Lord, please help me to help my family.”
God wants to help us, and He loves it when we reach out to Him. All power is in His hands, and He is a very loving Father. We are all unique individuals with different circumstances and backgrounds. The extraordinarily wonderful thing about our Heavenly Father is that He meets us where we are. I grew up believing that a close relationship with God was reserved for only special people that always did the right things. I never saw myself as able or worthy to live up to their standards, so I didn’t think I could talk to God or have a relationship with Him. I’m very glad that I was wrong.
God accepts us just as we are. He is our Creator, and nothing about us is random. We were created with His purpose in mind and one of the truths we must accept is that God wants us to depend on Him more and more every day. He wants to have a close relationship with each of us, and this relationship isn’t dependent on how good we may or may not be; it is dependent on God’s goodness.
John 3:16(NLT) says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” This verse sums up what it means to have faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, we can’t please Him, but with faith, we show Him that we love and honor Him, and this pleases God very much. Having faith in our Heavenly Father means that we trust in His love. It means that we believe He loves us all so much that He gave His most precious treasure, Jesus Christ, in order to save us; and we desperately needed saving.
Romans 10:9-10(NLT) says, “9 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. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.” This passage lets us see that when we open our mouths to speak, confess, and believe God’s truth, something wonderful happens. Our powerful Heavenly Father did not let Jesus Christ stay in the grave. On the third day after his crucifixion, God resurrected Jesus Christ and brought him back to life. This shows us that nothing compares to God’s power. He has power over death, and everything else.
God allowed His only begotten Son to be crucified, and Jesus Christ died an agonizing death on the cross. He didn’t deserve to die, because Jesus Christ never did anything wrong—he never sinned. He was perfect in every way, but 2Corinthians 5:21 teaches us that Jesus allowed himself to take on our sins, so he could be the payment for them all.
Everything has a price, and Romans 6:23 tells us that the price for sin is death. Sin is any action that does not please God. It is doing the things He tells us not to do. By right, it was us who should have been up there on that cross, but Jesus Christ took our place. All the sins of the people for all eternity was laid on him, and he bore them all when he was crucified. It had to be done this way to fulfill all God’s laws. Jesus Christ completed this mission perfectly, and because of what God has accomplished through him, salvation is possible for us. It is not something you and I can earn. It is a gift that God freely offers us and all we have to do to receive it is to believe. Showing God gratitude and appreciation for all He has done is the greatest privilege of life. The way that we do this is by accepting Jesus Christ into our hearts as our personal Lord and Savior by believing in his crucifixion and resurrection.
We can be saved from damnation and eternal darkness through Jesus Christ, and to accept him into our hearts and begin to grow in him, we must be born again. Jesus Christ said in John 3:3(NLT), “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” To become born again is to be saved. Again, it is to confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of our lives, and that God raised him from the dead. This is not complicated. Some people think that there must be lots of emotions and begging, but Jesus Christ has done the hard part. Our part is to simply believe in what he has already done for everyone that will accept his gift of salvation.
God helped Luther to choose a better path for his life. He came to God just as he was, and he prayed very simply to the Lord. He did not realize it, but God was wooing him, wanting Luther to become a part of His family. God always had His eyes on him and was waiting for the invitation to come into Luther’s life. Long before we entered our mother’s wombs, God chose us and knew we would become His children. We don’t have to be perfect, because none of us are. Like Luther, we must be humble enough to invite God into our lives. If we put out the welcome mat, He will come into our hearts and make Himself at home. ■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“How to Become Born Again” written for Springfield Fellowship © 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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