When we understand what God has done for us, we have a choice to make.  We can turn and walk away, or we can say YES! and accept His free gift of grace.

You may have taken this step already, or you may be wanting to do that now.  You can say YES! to God on your own, or you may want to do that with a friend.

We say YES! to God by simply talking to Him;  in our own words, humbly admitting to God that we have rebelled against Him, and that we need His forgiveness and leadership

With our sin pardoned and our debt paid, our relationship with God is firmly established because we are immediately adopted into His family.

We matter to God. He made us, and He wants to have a relationship with us

However, we have rebelled against God, we have all disobeyed Him, our sins have separated us from Him and broken off the relationship.

To varying degrees, most of us are aware of our distance from God, so we start doing all kinds of things like being a helpful neighbor, paying our taxes, going to church, or giving money to charities -- all in order to get back to Him. There is nothing wrong with these things, but the Bible makes it clear that none of them can earn us God's forgiveness or re-establish our relationship with Him. (See Romans 3:23)

Furthermore, the sins we have committed must be punished. The penalty we owe is death, which is a physical death as well as a spiritual separation from God for eternity in a place called hell. (See Romans 6:23)

It looks pretty bleak, but the good news is that we matter go God. In fact, He loves us so much that He did for us what we could never do for ourselves. He provided a bridge over which we can find His forgiveness and restore our relationship with Him. (See I Peter 3:18)

He built it by coming to earth as one of us and dying on the cross to pay the death penalty we owed.

This is a picture of what the central message of the Bible is all about. This is what God wants each of us to understand. But it is not enough for us to just know about this, or even agree with it. We have to act on it. God wants us to move over to the other side -- He wants us to say YES! to Him.

You can only begin to follow Jesus by talking to Him (this is called prayer).  You don't need any special words -- just be honest with him that your sin has separated you from Him, that you need His forgiveness through His death on the cross, and that you would like Him to lead your life.

Share your decision with someone!  This is a new day in your life; something to be celebrated!