jesus_prayingIf you aren’t a Christian, you may have asked yourself, “Why should I be a Christian?” You may wonder what it is about Christianity that causes so many people to “join up.” One benefit that Miguel Valdivia sees is that:

Christians Are Friends With God

The world is a marketplace, not only of consumer goods and living standards, but also of ideas. Ideologies drive wars and economies. They impact history and help shape our individual lives. Most of us have a primary ideology by which we live. I have chosen Christianity, and here are some of the basic spiritual truths I’ve discovered.

1. God is good. A careful reading of the Bible shows that God is involved in a cosmic  confrontation with an enemy who wants to harm you and me, and one of the ways he does that best is by getting us involved in doing bad things—what we call sin. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death.” 1 But God doesn’t want us to die, so He came up with a plan to rescue us: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 2

2. God has a purpose for our lives. God has an eternal plan of salvation for humanity as a whole and for each of us as individuals. The biblical God is a personal God. He pleads, “My son

[my daughter], give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways.” 3 The Holy Spirit has been promised to guide us and teach us God’s saving truths: “When he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” 4

3. God wants to free us from guilt. One of Christianity’s greatest gifts is God’s free offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. An Old Testament prophet expressed God’s offer: “ ‘Come now, let us reason together,’ says the LORD. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’ ” 5 The New Testament tells us this renewal is possible through Christ’s sacrifice. “In him [Jesus] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according with the riches of God’s grace.” 6

4. God wants to be our Friend. The Bible teaches that God is not distant or disinterested in our affairs. He wants to be our Friend! Jesus said, “I have called you friends.” 7 Life isn’t perfect, but knowing we have a Friend in high places can help us to walk through life’s darkest passages without fear.

1 Romans 6:23. 2 John 3:16. 3 Proverbs 23:26. 4 John 16:13. 5 Isaiah 1:18. 6 Ephesians 1:7. 7 John 15:15.