Life or Death
WE MUST CHOOSE TO TRUST IN JESUS
IN ORDER TO RECEIVE NEW LIFE FROM GOD.
o have control over our own lives is
T
God and human, He alone was able to make
real life. He wants to give me life. He wants to
one of our strongest desires. Isn’t that
the payment for us. Only by being a man could
give me Himself, because He is life. I only have
why it drives us crazy to stand in a
God pay in the currency of human life that His
to trust that Jesus is who He says He is—my
long line or get stuck in a traffic jam? We’ve
justice demands. Only by being God could a
God, who loves me. I don’t completely under-
lost control of our lives for a moment. We like
man pay that debt for all of humanity, a debt
stand this unconditional love, but I trust it.
to have freedom to do what we want. This free-
he did not owe.
dom is a good thing and God happily gave it to
Such trust is simple but not easy. If Jesus is
us. He holds the universe in His hands, but
Jesus died like each of us must, but He also rose
really God, I must lay down everything I
every morning when we wake up, the day is
from the dead so that each of us could. Jesus
thought was mine and give it to Him. What
ours to direct as we see fit.
conquered death on our behalf so we could
could make me willingly surrender my whole
have real and unending life. There’s only one
life like that? What could make me open
Though God made us wise, loving, and strong,
good reason for God to bother with any of us,
myself up to such vulnerability? Only love.
only He is perfectly wise, perfectly loving, and
to join us in the dirtiness and the smelliness
Every time I remember the love Jesus showed
perfectly strong. This makes Him more qualified
and the hard work of life on earth. One reason:
me in the way He lived and the reason He died,
to guide our lives. We love freedom so much,
love. The whole strange thing of
however, that we would rather run our own lives
being born in a stable,
than submit to God’s direction. We make our-
tramping around on
selves kings. We tell God we don’t want Him,
earth, being humiliated
and He honors our request. The problem is that
and executed was all for
debt for all of humanity,
life. I let go of everything
life without God is a disaster. Everything evil,
one single purpose—to
and I choose to trust in Jesus.
sad, and painful that we see in our world and in
make it possible for us to be
a debt he did not owe.
our own hearts comes from the distance we’ve
with God forever. It’s all because
put between ourselves and God. It would have
God loves us with an unconditional love.
I fall in love with God all over again.
Only by being
Because of this love, I can trust
God could a man pay that
been fair for Him to let us live with the conse-
His promise to take care of
me and to lead me to real
The love of Jesus is real and it’s for you
as well. I’ve seen it and felt it. It satisfies our
deepest hungers and calms our worst fears
quences of our choices, as ugly as they may be.
Unconditional love scares me because I don’t
because it’s what we were made for: true love.
But instead, God intervened.
understand it. I understand a contract. I under-
It has been so beautiful in my life that I wish all
stand work and reward, failure and punish-
people would know it themselves and find the
God loves each of us and longs to be with us.
ment. Being good enough or smart enough
life they were meant to live.
It breaks His heart to see us struggling and suf-
makes sense to me. But God’s love isn’t like that.
fering apart from Him, especially since all who
I lived my whole life working to make myself
Each of us must make the choice to accept or
desert Him deserve the penalty they receive,
acceptable to God but that only led me to
to reject God’s offer of true love. What do you
which is death and eternal exile from Him.
exhaustion and despair. My life completely
decide?
Jesus was born fully God and fully man. He
changed when I understood that what God
lived with us to show us the extent of God’s
wants is a relationship with me. He wants me to
love and to bring us back to Him by taking the
have new life as His daughter. He doesn’t want
penalty of death each of us deserves. He paid
me to try to figure out how to find real life. He
our debt. Because Jesus was at the same time
doesn’t want me to work harder until I achieve
Tell us what you think:
Becky Best, CC ’05
www.ChristatYale.com
The ninth in a series.
1
2
Life
3
4
Death
5
6
New Life
7
8
New Life
9
10 Life or Death
Sponsored by
Yale Students for Christ
and Tennent Media.
This ad has been paid for by Yale alumni donations.