Become a Christian immediately
To lose weight, you can diet, but unless you have a lifestyle change, you will regain the weight. To become a Christian, you must have a lifestyle change. It cannot be a temporary fix. It must be a complete renewal of the heart. The reward is being with God for eternity and securing a place in God's heavenly family. To become a Christian is often mistaken as the end, as if you have made it; yes, you are saved, but this is only the beginning of your transformation. Once you become a Christian, you MUST seek God every day and give it your best shot to live holy. There will be times we all fail, as we are human; ask for forgiveness and try again! It is a never-ending cycle of growing and learning from our mistakes, with God as our Father.
The Bible says, ". . . But unless you repent, you too will perish." - Luke 13:3 and, ". . . him who comes to me I will not cast out." - John 6:37. Therefore, through repentance and turning to Jesus, you will be redeemed and not cast out.
The Bible says, ". . . if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. . . . For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." - Romans 10:9-13. Therefore, you know, by declaring Jesus is Lord and believing with your heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, you are saved.
The Bible says, "For man believes with his heart and is so justified, and he confesses with his lips and is so saved . . . No one who believes in Him will be put to shame." - Romans 10:10-11. Therefore, you know, by believing in Jesus with your heart, your sins have been wiped away, and by confessing your sins, you will not face disgrace.
The first step is repentance, turning away from all sin; no sin is too big for Jesus. You must be genuine. Do not worry about religion; focus on Jesus and say the following out loud to God, but only if you mean it with your whole heart; otherwise, it is just empty words: -
"Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus and repent of all my sins (say your sins here), and I ask for your forgiveness for every time I have failed you. I am genuinely sorry for every sin I have committed and turn away from all sin and intend never to sin again. I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe Jesus died on the cross to take away my sins and was raised from the dead to save me. I am calling upon His name, the Name of Jesus; I confess Jesus is now my Lord, and I surrender every area of my life to Jesus. I do believe Jesus has saved me with all my heart. Glory to God. Thank you, Father!"
In the Bible, Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from Heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." - John 6:53-58. What does this mean?
Once we become a Christian, we must stay filled with God to have eternal life. If our physical bodies are a lamp and God is the oil, we cannot be half full. We must be full of oil. Spending time with God but having some compromising sin in our lives is the equivalent of having our lamps only half full – Matthew 25:1-13.
So, what must we do to stay filled? :-
1. Join a Bible-based church and get baptised.
2. Receive communion as often as you can, accepting what Jesus did for us, and continue to turn away from all sin.
3. Spending time talking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit through prayer, repenting any sin and reading the Bible daily. (A good place to start is Psalms 23 and 91.)
God is the vine, and we are the branches; in order for the branches to stay healthy and attached, they need to be continually fed by the vine.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." - 2 Corinthians 5:17
Our priorities must align with heavenly priorities, not earthly priorities, including love for God's kingdom and relationships, not material things or love of money or career progression. Wherever your treasure is, you will find your heart.
"God saved you by his grace when you believed, and you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none can boast about it." - Ephesians 2:8-9