It may seem like Christians are giving out medicine when they share about Jesus, and it’s easy to think, “I don’t really need that right now. My life is alright.” Part of the problem here is seeing belief in Jesus as something we can take or leave—something that might or might not help us. That’s not true at all. You see, Jesus is a living person, and it just so happens He’s the only one who died and rose from the dead to live forever, having defeated death. This means He’s an expert on the afterlife and worth listening to. He came as a real person in real history and changed the course of the world, and we have to face the truth about what He did and make a decision about whether we believe it—whether we believe Him.

Jesus is also the person who imagined you and made sure you had a life on this earth. The Bible says, “by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible” (Colossians 1:16). Jesus is God, and as your Creator, He deserves your allegiance and obedience. You were made for His purposes, and you don’t have a right to live for your own purposes. What’s more, by choosing to trust Jesus, we find our place in the great story of the world and gain a new identity and purpose given to us by the God who made us and knows us so well. If we don’t trust Jesus with our lives, we will never fully discover what our lives were meant for, and we will search forever for who we are and what we ought to do.

In fact, that false search leads to what the Bible calls idolatry, a terrible sin against God that basically just means you worship something else other than Him. It’s the greatest injustice in the universe because God who is Justice has created us, and we exist for His pleasure and to be satisfied by Him. This is why the Gospel message often includes some of the Bible’s truth about what it calls “sin.” Sin is missing the mark, essentially breaking God’s law. Now, you might say, “I don’t drink, do drugs, sleep around, bully people, or curse. So why do I need Jesus?” But you’re misunderstanding God’s law. Jesus said we must be perfect as God is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Are you perfect? Jesus also said to look at another person with lust in your heart means you have committed adultery in your heart. And He said if you hate someone you’ve murdered them in your heart. This is not to mention God’s command to live in the truth, which means never lying. And at the very least it’s wrong for your heart to constantly search for fulfillment outside of God, and that sin is what will keep you from coming to Jesus for both satisfaction and salvation. You will never be fulfilled for very long without Christ at the center of your life as King of your life.

Because God is the Creator and we are his creations, it is only right that we do what He says, and if we don’t, He is the judge, the one who decides what penalty is given for breaking His law. And the Bible says, “the wages of sin is death,” (Romans 6:23), so we have to recognize that choosing to disobey God earns us death and requires someone to pay that price—a price Jesus paid for us. God’s Word says, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,” (Romans 5:8). Jesus came to live a life that honored God in every way and to take your punishment for failing to honor God with your life. He then rose from the dead to defeat death and offer you abundant life now and forever. You can have this if you’ll realize that you desperately need Jesus and choose to walk with Him today and always. Choose Christ today!