Too far gone

It was my selfishness, arrogance and rebellious heart that nailed my Jesus to the cross. I was born this way but that's no excuse. I also chose this way.  Because I cared more about my own feelings and status in life, God was an afterthought or an inconvenient truth I tried to ignore. 

When Jesus set His eyes on the cross, He was motivated by love:  His love for the Father; His love for me; His love for you.  He didn't have to do it but He chose to die the most horrific death so that I could be restored in my relationship to God the Father through Him.

In the last hours before Jesus died on the cross, one of the men crucified next to Him said two things. Firstly he said to another criminal being crucified with them "We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong" and then turning to Jesus he says "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."  This man who knew he'd done wrong and was being justly punished, turned to Jesus.  And Jesus response? "Jesus answered him, 'Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.'"

In this, my last blog where I discuss reasons to not believe, I address the question of someone feeling they're not good enough to become a Christian, or that they've done too much bad stuff, or maybe just one really bad thing for which they feel like God hates them and would never forgive.  The awesome news from the Bible is that no matter what you've done, no matter how low you've stooped or how far you feel you've fallen, in Jesus it's not about your performance, it's about Him.  When he went to the cross and died for your sins and mine, that included anything and everything.  The Bible puts it this way:

For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate his love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves.
Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly!
And there is still much more to say of his unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in my sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God. So if while we were still enemies, God fully reconciled us to himself through the death of his Son, then something greater than friendship is ours. Now that we are at peace with God, and because we share in his resurrection life, how much more we will be rescued from sin’s dominion!
And even more than that, we overflow with triumphant joy in our new relationship of living in harmony with God—all because of Jesus Christ!

Jesus' interaction with the criminal on the cross next to Him shows that even someone who considers themselves the worst in the world, are just one step away from forgiveness and a new life if they will just reach out to Him.  I've heard it preached a few times that no matter how far you feel you are from God, He's right there with you and all you need to do to get to Him is to turn around.  That's not "turn your life around," that's simply turn around to face Him.  Look to Jesus and He will give you full forgiveness and restoration. No-one is ever too far gone.