I grew up going to church on Sunday mornings. My mom would load us up while we left dad at home watching the Sunday morning news. Dad didn’t go to church and never was a spiritual influence in my life. But mom kept us in church on Sundays and Wednesdays. In fact, I pretty much equated my Christianity with church attendance. I was a Christian because my mom had raised me to be a Christian. And I did all the things that Christians did: I went to church, prayed, served, and shared my faith with my friends. But on a Sunday morning during my teenage years, while listening to my pastor preach from Matthew 7, I realized that I was all show and no go.

In Matthew 7, Jesus is telling a group of people that not everyone who claims to be a Christian will be able to get to heaven. As I read that passage, I realized that the people He was referring to believed with all certainty that they would spend eternity with Jesus. They even had “proof” of all the things they had done that displayed their belief. That was me! He went on to say that the problem was that He didn’t know them. In other words, they did not have a personal, day-by-day relationship with Jesus Christ. I realized that I was separated from God and wanted that kind of relationship. I went to the front of the church and told my pastor that I needed to give my life to Christ.

That day began a new journey for me. There was certainty in my life. You could almost say that my life had purpose. Having been so involved in church growing up, there weren’t any drastic changes, except that I now knew Jesus and sought to add to my personal relationship with Him each day. I still have struggles, but because my life is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ, I can manage a little easier. He tells me in the bible that his plans for me are for my good and will only help me know him more. Wouldn’t you want to have a life of purpose and direction? Can I tell you how you can do that?