9 Compelling Reasons Why We Need Jesus Christ to Save Our Souls
Do you believe God/Jesus is real? Has Jesus made His presence known in your life? How do you recognize your need for God/Jesus? What do you think it takes for a person to go to heaven? What is Faith to you?
Many people struggle with matters of faith because maybe they think it is a set of rules we need to follow. God established His commandments to point to our need for a Savior because we can’t follow the rules. The only one who followed these perfectly is Jesus Christ.
In this post I will show you 9 Compelling Reasons Why We need Jesus Christ to Save our Souls.
Jesus helps us to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. (Matthew 22:37)
As humans, we will worship, love, and idolize something. The things we love, worship, and idolize are usually money, career, relationships, or power. These things are difficult for us to give up because they are a source of pride and accomplishment.
But, our accomplishments and the good we do, don’t make us right with God.
I know I’ve been guilty of not loving God with all my heart, soul, and mind. I’ve put other things above Him and my relationship with Him, when my relationship with Him is the most significant one I will have in all my life. He is my source of life. He gives me everything I have. (James 1:17)
I’ve acted like an atheist, thinking I can live my life without God and make wise decisions. I had a rude awakening when I realized that living without God and not making Jesus my Lord made life extremely lonely and dark. I felt like I had no purpose.
I’m so grateful that Jesus made Himself known to me and pursued me and helped me change my mind about Him. Now I feel hopeful everyday, I live my life with purpose and Jesus lives in me so it’s not dark anymore.
Jesus helps us to worship and love the One True God. (Deuteronomy 5:6-10)
Every person on the face of the Earth has a God shaped hole in their hearts and we will fill it with something. We will fill it with God or something else.
The thing is, all these other little gods that we tend to subscribe to are not going to help us. They don’t give us life and they don’t really do anything for us other than to make life more confusing and lonely.
The One true God is the only One who has come down to us to have a true and loving relationship with us. God is the only one who gave His son as a sacrifice for us. He is the only one who has truly loved us. (John 3:16)
It’s funny how people complain about oppressive rules when other religions and gods impose rules onto others and they don’t really make it about relationships or connection or redemption.
God, the creator of the Universe loves us fiercely, passionately, and with all His heart. And He has a Big heart. He gives us the choice to love Him back.
God doesn’t use force or oppression to make us do anything. People do that.
Unfortunately, people use the free will God gave us to make evil and bad choices. Then we like to blame God for the choices we make.
God wants us to love Him back and He presents Himself and gives us the choice to love Him or reject Him.
We will have consequences for the choices we make.
If we choose to reject God and not love Him and worship Him only as He deserves to be, we will separate ourselves from Him. The point is we choose.
God’s commandments aren’t a set of rules we follow to get us to heaven. They point to our need for Jesus. We need to look in the mirror.
I have filled the God shaped hole in my heart with many other things that were empty and pointless. I needed Jesus to change my heart and compel me with His Holy Spirit to turn to Him. He died for me because I have a sin and pride problem. I thank Him for coming to save me from myself.
Jesus says: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. “ (John 14:6)
Jesus helps us to respect His name the right way. (Deuteronomy 5:11)
I’ve been guilty of using the Lord’s name in vain before I met Jesus and there have been times even after I met Jesus that I’ve done this. Jesus is sanctifying me and my mouth everyday and I have matured because of His work in me. Now I choose better words to express myself.
It saddens me that God’s name has been downgraded to a swear word. We need to have respect, awe and reverence for the One who gave us Life!
What if your name was used as a swear word? Would you like it? I know I wouldn’t. God doesn’t like it either. It breaks His heart. We shake our fist in God’s face and blame Him for all problems in the world when we are the ones who create the messes we live in.
And if you don’t believe God exists, then why are you using or saying His name anyway?
Another way we use God’s name in vain is when we view God as a genie who grants all of our wishes. God isn’t a genie in a bottle. God is a loving Father who will provide for our needs. In His grace, He will give us a want or a few, but sometimes the answer is no or wait. We don’t like the no or wait so we use His name as a cuss word.
God’s name is to be respected and used with reverence.
“ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “ (Philippians 2:9-11)
Jesus helps us to rest, worship, and honor God on the Sabbath Day. (Deuteronomy 5:12-15)
The Sabbath day isn’t just about going to church. It’s more about rest and honoring God by focusing all your attention on Him for at least one day of the week.
Society is overloaded with work, stress and pressure to perform and it is pressure we inflict on ourselves. We are workaholics. And you wonder why America is the most overmedicated and addicted society in the world.
Instead of resting and giving God the honor and obedience He deserves, we numb out with our substances, binge eating, social media, and binge watching Netflix. We also stay busy so we don’t have to deal with what is really going on inside of us. We need rest for our souls and Jesus provides that rest when we surrender to Him. (Matthew 11:28)
This is vitally important for our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health. When we have Faith in Jesus, He gives us the rest we need freely.
“Faith is being of what we hope for and being sure of what we don’t see.” (Hebrews 11:1)
Jesus Helps us Honor our parents. (Deuteronomy 5:16)
(This is not speaking to instances of abusive parents. Parents are absolutely not supposed to abuse their children. “Fathers (and mothers!), don’t make your children bitter. If you do, they will lose hope.” Colossians 3:21)
Have you disrespected and disobeyed your parents? I know I have. One time when I was 15, I wanted to sleep over at a girlfriend’s house. My nana, who raised me because my mother died when I was 8, said no.
I deliberately disobeyed her and went anyway. I didn’t go home from school and went over to my friend’s house instead. MY CHOICES….caused my nana great heart ache because she thought something bad happened to me. I didn’t bother to call her to tell her where I was.
She called around to my other friends and she finally found me. I was grounded for 2 weeks. I didn’t like the consequence, but it taught me not to disobey my nana like that again. I was able to make respectful choices because I experienced the consequences of my actions.
When we do not surrender to Jesus, it is difficult to respect others, especially our parents. God is the ultimate authority in our lives and we need His authority to know how to act right.
I don’t get to blame anyone for my choices. I also need Jesus to turn my heart and to humble me and convict me to stop going down a destructive road. When Jesus is the Lord of your life, He guides your choices.
Jesus helps us not to have hate in our heart. (Deuteronomy 5:17)
At one point or another, all humans have experienced some form of hate. Unfortunately, we are all capable of hateful actions. The only person who never hated is Jesus Christ. He experienced the worst hate crime in history by being beaten and then nailed to the cross, all while being laughed at, spit on and mocked.
Prisons are full of people who have killed one or more people. Jesus says that if we have hate in our hearts for another person, we have committed murder. Those are God’s standards, not mine. (Ephesians 4:31, 1 John 4:20)
Humans shed innocent blood and it is screaming out to God’s ears. We are mean to each other by our abusive actions and words. So for us to change that we need Jesus to take up residence in us, so we can love each other instead.
Jesus helps us to be faithful in our marriages and committed relationships. (Deuteronomy 5:18)
(Again this is NOT for instances of abuse, if you are being abused in your relationship, get to a safe place immediately and call for help. God doesn’t want you or expect you to stay in an abusive situation! Domestic Abuse hotline: 800-799-7233)
The national divorce rate is 50% for first marriages, 60% for second marriages, and 73% for third and subsequent marriages. Couples are walking down the aisle without being adequately prepared and informed for marriage. US Census
Marriage is not for the faint of heart. It takes the work, commitment and intentional love actions of two people investing in each other on a daily basis. This is not based on feelings or infatuation. Basing any relationship on feelings or infatuation is a shaky foundation at best.
It takes Jesus and emotional maturity to help a man and woman to be faithful to one another and to treat each other with respect and love.
A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. What did Christ do to love the church and people? He laid down his life for it and sacrificed his own agenda and his rights. He did not abuse, coerce, manipulate or hurt anyone. He healed, told the truth, nurtured, loved, and had compassion in all of his relationships and allowed everyone to make a choice. We have to own our choices! (Ephesians 5)
When a husband loves his wife like Christ loves, wives can be empowered to fulfill their role of respecting their husbands. The point is our husbands are supposed to lead us to Christ, not away from Him. Using the Word of God to abuse others doesn’t lead anyone to Jesus. Jesus takes it personally when God’s Word is twisted and used to abuse others.
When Jesus resides in a married couple’s heart and He is their motivator, there is peace and structure in the home and abusive actions have no place there.
Counseling can be an effective tool when there is conflict in a marriage. It is okay to ask for help when you feel overwhelmed with a marital problem.
Jesus helps us to live honest lives. (Deuteronomy 5: 19-20)
When we steal, lie and gossip, we hurt other people and we hurt our credibility.
It is better to live a life of integrity than to take things that don’t belong to us or to lie.
When Jesus leads your life, there is no desire to lie, steal or gossip. He helps us to be honest with others and with ourselves. (Galatians 5:6)
Lying, stealing, slander, and gossip makes a mess of things for everyone. There is so much corruption in this world because of this and it makes society unsafe.
So consider allowing Jesus to lead your heart to integrity because that gives you the right kind of peace and He helps you live at peace with others too. You won’t have any desire or thought to steal, lie and gossip if you let Jesus lead you. (Romans 12:18)
Jesus helps us not to compare ourselves to others or to be jealous of what others have. (Deuteronomy 5:21)
When we play the comparison game and allow jealousy to take root, we end up living with bitterness in our hearts. This causes more harm than good.
Jealousy and comparison don’t foster connection with others and they hurt relationships and often lead to murder. (Genesis 4)
There are many people in prison today because of this. True stories on Crime shows like Dateline point to this problem. Social media feeds this problem.
Jealousy and comparison will only add hurt, anxiety, and trauma to our lives.
When Jesus leads our hearts there is no reason to compare ourselves to others or be jealous of others because he helps us be humble and think of ourselves in the correct light. We are to “ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. “ (Philippians 2:3-4, 14-16 )
If you have questions about how to have a life-giving relationship with Jesus, comment below.
If you need counseling and need to talk to someone about matters of faith, make an appointment with Rhonda.