Christianity from the outside looking in can be rather like looking at a beautiful stained glass window of a cathedral in sunlight from the outside.  From the outside it looks dark - unappealing even.  However, the moment you step inside the cathedral you can see the coloured glass being reflected in the sunlight.  Christianity can be a little like that, in that it needs to be experienced from the inside!  At one of our recent evening services I said that becoming a Christian isn’t about being moral, doing good things, changing your behaviour etc.  Someone challenged me immediately following the service and said 'surely that can’t be right!'

One of the problems with believing that you have to be a good and moral person to become a Christian is that, if that’s the case, you’ll never become one!  What will probably happen is that you’ll look at all those Christians on the other side of the fence and think 'I can never be one of them'.  You might say, 'well if you only knew what I’d done' or 'I can’t change to be like that'(you’re probably right - you can’t!) or even, 'God couldn’t possibly love me'.  The premise for thinking like that is that somehow God is going to accept and love you based on your good life!  Believe me, nothing can be further from the truth!  You might also be someone who has been abused, wondering 'does Jesus have anything for me?'  The answer is, yes He does, and He can speak as someone who was physically tortured and abused.

In the words of Bob Dylan you are going to serve somebody – so why not explore serving Christ Jesus who in humility became one of us to rescue us.