I Was Born a Worshiper

I've been a worshiper all my life - a self-worshiper.

I lived to please myself. I loved others to serve myself. Any desires I had, I sought to meet in order to make myself happy. I would often do this even at the expense of others.

Then I heard the Gospel, starting with the bad news of the good news - I was a sinner deserving of punishment. My good deeds would not out-weigh my bad deeds, God would not grade on a curve, I had no hope of heaven. But the good news was that God has punished my sin and poured out his wrath on his Son - in my place! By God's grace, he turned me from my sin (repentance) and turned me to Christ (faith) as my only hope of redemption.

From the moment God changed my heart, he began (slowly but steadily) changing my life. He created in me a hunger for God's Word and for God's people. My heart still worshiped (I've had lots of practice!), but now it's affections were changed and directed toward my Creator.

Having grown up attending church only a couple of times a year, I now could not wait to get to church any time the doors were open. I wanted to learn and grow in the Lord. He was changing me from the inside out.

When I stand before the Lord and he asks, "Why should I let you into heaven?" I know how to respond. First, I'd confess, "You shouldn't. Because I've sinned and rebelled against you all my life." However, your Son lived a perfect life that I could never live, he died on a cruel cross, paying a penalty for sin that I deserved, and he rose from the grave, proving his power of death itself. It is in Christ and his righteousness that I am trusting for eternal life!