Wretched

I recently wrote to my brother on
Facebook. Here's what I said:

That's great, bro. Me? I'm doing alright I suppose. I'm gonna be 43 this month. I feel like I haven't accomplished anything. My kids (from the ex) don't like me and blame me for all that happened. 

But... I'm glad I have new family, my wife and son. They're both great. My youngest son was my last chance to be a good dad, so I have to cherish my time with him. I've been going to church and bible study. I'm learning a lot. 

Life is short. I wanna live forever. The only way to do that is by repenting and trusting in Jesus and living for him. I've lived too long without Him.

I've promoted twice at my job, got a nice house and two vehicles, clothes, and food on the table. I'm finally not poor. But I've found that it doesn't make me happy...it's being with my family and living for God. Yes it's sounds corny, and it's actually even hard to tell you that, because I've been such a bad, wretched person all my life. I look at the "ten commandments" and I've broken all of them.  There's no way I could make it to heaven by my good deeds, because I don't really have many. I'm going to heaven only because Jesus took the punishment that I deserve and credited his righteousness to my account. Whew!

How To Repent

1. Realize that if you've ever lied, stolen, dishonored your parents, been angry with someone without a good reason, not put God first, you're a sinner, like me and everyone else.

2. Turn from sin a RUN the other way - towards God. 

3. Believe that we deserve eternal punishment but Jesus paid our fine in full by dying on the cross. Done. 

4. Put faith in Jesus and follow him. 

5. Read the Bible daily. If you have a hard time, promise yourself you'll read at least a verse each day. Soon, you'll have a hard time putting The Book down!

6. Remember that repentance us a daily thing, since Christians still fall into sin. This is not to be confused with "diving" into sin.