Before Jesus Changed My Life

I was raised in a Christian home ever since I was born and I went to a Christian school. I was taught Bible verses my whole life. Despite that, I still struggled with my sin problem. I was prideful and thought that if I could just be good enough and do enough good works, then I could have a right relationship with God. I wanted to do things my own way and was living for myself. I did things that I knew were against God’s Word, and I struggled with feeling guilt, shame, and feeling not good enough and almost fake, like I didn’t belong with these believers. I did things out of a sense of duty and feeling guilty if I didn’t do them. It felt like a major weight that I was carrying, and I didn’t know how to fix it. My prideful self kept trying to fix it and failing, which only increased the weight I felt.

How Jesus Changed My Life

One day (middle of August), when I was reading my Bible, I came across Romans 3:23 which says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” By God’s grace, I realized that I am not good enough and I could not fix my sin problem myself. God showed me that nothing I did would ever fix the broken and messed-up relationship between us. However, the next verses (Romans 3:24-25) talk about how what Christ did through his life, death, and resurrection was enough to mend that relationship. God broke me of my pride that was blinding me to the truth of what he did, and it helped me to see that Jesus was sufficient to pay for my sins. He made me see that I could not do anything without him and realize my dependence on him.

My Life After Jesus Saved Me

Now, I don’t do things that God commands like pray, go to church, read your Bible, etc., from a place of duty and guilt. Through God’s grace, I get to do them from a place of awe and love for who he is. He freed me from feeling not good enough, and now I can go to him for forgiveness instead of trying (and failing) to fix it myself. I am still not perfect, but I realize now that I can’t be perfect. All I can do is try to grow in my faith and be in awe of the amazing grace that God displayed when he sent Christ to die for us.