Did you have a perfect childhood?  Have things happened that have caused you tremendous shame and guilt?  Have you felt unworthy, unloved, rejected, feel mistreated, abused, abandoned, not good enough, stupid, ugly and alone and are looking for a life of contentment? Have you craved attention and have been willing to do most anything to become accepted?  Have you tried alcohol, drugs, being promiscuous to satisfy your imperfections and life only became worse?   What do you think your chances are of being a happy and a lovable person?  Do you feel your life is too damaged to be repaired and overcome all of the negatives? Have you given up hope and believe this will be your life forever?  What are the chances your life will change if you dwell on the past?  If you want a new life, you must start all over.  Is that possible?  Tell me: “How do I erase all of my past bad memories”?  The sad thing is you probably can’t.  However, there is someone who can help.  The reason He can is because He knows more about you than you know about yourself.  Christ is the one person who can give you complete hope in the future.  You have been developing yourself for living life in this world.  Think about preparing for eternity and what that would take.

First you must believe that Christ is really the Son of God.  Eleven of Christ’s closest followers were willing to die violent deaths because of their belief that He was Who He stated.  The Bible records the death of the Apostle James found in Acts 12.2.  He was put to death by the sword.  We believe Peter was crucified upside down on an “X” shaped cross according to Jesus’ prophecy in John 21:18 & 19.  History tells us Matthew suffered martyrdom and was killed by a sword in Ethiopia.  Nathanael was beaten to death by whipping.  The apostle Thomas was stabbed to death.  James, not the brother of Jesus but John’s brother, was thrown from the upper part of the temple because he refused to deny his belief that Christ was who He said He was.  Andrew was crucified.  Philip was martyred in Turkey. Bartholomew was skinned alive. Jude was martyred.  The apostle Paul was beheaded by Nero.  When we take what we believe are facts that those closest to Jesus were willing to die a martyr’s death it leads us to believe there was no doubt in their mind that Jesus was Who He said He was. Would these apostles be willing to die for a lie?  Would you?  Following is more evidence:

After Christ’s death and resurrection, He gave them convincing proof that He was alive.  “He appeared to them over a period of 40 days and spoke about the kingdom of God.”  While eating with them, He told them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit and He would baptize them with power.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.”   “Before their very eyes, He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight.”  As they were looking up, two men dressed in white stood beside them and told them Jesus would return the same way they have seen Him go into heaven.  A short time later, 8,000 mostly Jews, were converted to Christianity.  Today, there are close to two billion Christians who believe Christ is who He says He is.  How much evidence does one need?

You must be willing to trust, by faith, there is someone that has the ability to forgive every sin that you have ever committed and can eradicate all guilt.  But, you must also believe there are evil spirits and evil people who want you to think that you can change nothing and you will always be hopelessly lost.  From the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden, everyone has been given a choice as to their final destiny.  The majority of the world rejects the one who can truly bring you hope and happiness.  He will tell you that the only way you can find happiness is by putting yourself above everyone else and not submitting or being accountable to anyone but you.  How have you done so far on your own?  Do you want someone to help you get a better life?  How about the One who created you?  Do you think He can straighten your life out?  It doesn’t make any difference whether we are a Christian or a non-believer.  If we cannot feel forgiven and have a complete “born again” experience we can be saddled with an unhappy and unfulfilled life forever.  Yet, life was not meant to be lived that way.

What is that “born again” experience?  It is called surrendering one’s self-centeredness and starting a new life free from everything in the past that has been negative.  There is only one way to obtain that new start.  It is to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  To some that may sound too radical and too simplistic.  How can I be sure it will work?  The first step may be the hardest—it requires faith to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He came to earth to die in our place for the sins we have committed.  If we have the faith to accept Him as God’s Son, believe that He can forgive us and we are willing to repent (change how we have been living and live as Christs teaches—Luke 13:5 – “No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”), we can start life all over with a clean slate having had all of our sins and guilt erased.  God knows you cannot change your life on your own and become a new person without help.  He promises that once we accept Christ, God will put His Spirit into our lives to help us progressively become a new person with a tremendous future having advantages in front of us.

From my own experience the Holy Spirit is within to help us, gradually change our thinking and how to see life from a different perspective.  If we will allow, the Holy Spirit will help us change all the things we were doing trying to buy or find true happiness.

Now, to make it all work we need to be held accountable.  Mark 12:30 & 31 – “’And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’  The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

The more you love God and others the more accountable you will be in living your life.  We want to please those we love the greatest.  Pleasing them requires living a life that we know they would want us to live.  Loving God and others gets our minds off of ourselves, sometimes our biggest down fall.  So if we live for God and others, rather than ourselves we will be able to live as our Creator wanted us to live.  When we live like that there comes a joy, happiness and a fulfillment that we did not have living for ourselves.  Everything that we did, wanting to find that acceptance, happiness and love is replaced by knowing that we are pleasing God and others in how we live.

This does not mean you will no longer have any problems.  But there will always be that Spirit within you to give you reassurance, council and assist in working through any situation you may encounter.  Knowing you are not alone, there is always someone who loves you, can bring you that new life and you can start all over again.  It is never too late to start as Satan wants us to believe.