Chris Joslin's Story of Redemption

Before I repented and put by trust in Christ, I trivialized sin. I had a lot of sin in my life that I was not taking seriously.

I was totally self -absorbed and was not concerned with the well-being of those closest to me.

From reading scripture, I came to the realization I am a sinner and that if God gave me justice, I would have to pay the price for my sin. Once I realize that Christ paid my penalty in full so that I could be forgiven and granted eternal life as a free gift, I repented of my sin and put my trust in Christ.

With the knowledge of eternal life, I am free from being a slave to sin and free from the fear of death

I grew up in the church. I had a great family, and my folks were always very active in the church. My father eventually became a pastor and still pastors to this day at a little church in Wears Valley, TN near Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. At 10 years old I “walked the aisle” and was baptized. Fast forward to college and my 20s, even into my 30s…I always had this knowledge of God and even continued attending church, but my life was pretty inconsistent with my faith, and somehow that did not bother me. That is until a very tragic thing occurred in my life and everything in my world just came unraveled. I was angry, frustrated, and I was just so perplexed that there seemed to be nothing I could do to hold my world together. I was just devastated. Out of desperation and fear about what would become of me, I cracked open the Bible. I had read the Bible some before but during this season it was like I was reading it for the first time with a fresh perspective…like my eyes were open, my heart was taking it all in, my mind was just soaking it up. I learned a few things during that season. From reading the Bible I was convicted of the reality that there was a lot of sin in my life, but I just wasn’t’ taking it very seriously. I had always considered myself a good person, but I learned that my standard of good was a lot different than God’s standard. Once I understood God’s standard, His moral law, I knew I was in big trouble because the Bible indicated that it’s appointed once for everyone to die and after this the judgement. The scriptures also indicated that God will judge the world in truth and righteousness…the kind of righteousness I didn’t have. Wow, now I felt even worse…until I understood the gospel. I had heard all my life in church that God came to earth in human form 2,000 years ago, Jesus of Nazareth. Since He was fully God and fully man, he was able to live up to the standard of moral perfection God requires…he lived a sinless life on this earth. I had also heard all my life that Jesus died on the cross for the sin of the world, but all those years I didn’t understand what this really meant and how it applied directly to me. This is the bottom line…the 10 commandments in the Bible are called the moral law. I had broken God’s law, but Jesus paid my fine in His life’s blood on the cross and then rose from the dead three days later defeating both sin and death. I learned that if I repent of my sins, forsake them, and put my trust in Christ alone, God would forgive all my sins and would commute my death sentence and grant me everlasting life as a free gift…all because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. So, on judgement day I can walk out of God’s courtroom because punishment for my sins has already been borne by Christ. As a result, I don't have to rely on my goodness to save me because I transferred by trust from myself to the Savior who is perfect and who satisfied God’s eternal demands for justice. This is the good news of the gospel. Once I repented of my sin and put my trust in the Savior, God began to reshape my personality, gave me new desires, changed my heart, changed my affections, and things have not been the same since. Do I still mess up occasionally and sin? Yes, but not intentionally. And when I do, I am not at peace with it. When that happened, I just confess it to God and ask Him to forgive me. You don’t have to confess it to a priest. Rather, you can talk directly to God because Christ has restored the relationship between God and the people who have repented of their sin and put their trust in Jesus. God restored my life and then some. That was almost 20 years ago, and God is still working a miracle in my life today. It’s amazing! Now I do good works, not to earn my way to heaven but out of gratitude to God for providing a Savior to take the punishment for my sin, reconcile me to the Father, and grant me everlasting life with him in heaven…all as a free gift. Wow! That is indeed good news.

I believe the Bible is true, so I know I have eternal life based on my repentance and trust in Christ.