Most of us realize the value of being an American and most of us enjoy the opportunities we have as Americans, wanting to spend our lives in some valuable undertaking, spend our time, our talents, energies, and abilities on some of those worthwhile endeavors. This is good, but actually, living for Jesus and being a Christian is where one can find the uttermost, meaningful existence. This is so, yet there are some who doubt the worthwhileness of this endeavor, especially if they witness inconsistencies in a Christian’s life.

Their doubts, however, do not negate certain realities that make being a Christian the greatest way to live. Mankind would give New Testament Christianity more serious consideration if they were constantly reminded of the meaningfulness and value of spending one’s life in this way. Jesus reminds us that men will know that we are his disciples, “If you love one another” (John 13:35). By the same token, He affirms that men would come to believe through seeing the unity and harmony within the Christian fellowship (John 17:21).

Just why should a person want to become a Christian? Certainly one need only look at the consequences of sin in the world to realize that we need deliverance from this presence. The Apostle Paul affirms that this happened through one person and one only: “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). In 2 Corinthians 5:21 we are reminded that God “made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus offers eternal salvation to those who are willing to obey Him (Hebrews 5:8-9). Friends, there is no other antidote in the world that can provide this kind of deliverance from a most dreaded disease: sin that results in death (Romans 6:23). Just think, all the burden of guilt is removed from a person’s past life. He can be saved eternally one day.

In addition to the joy of release from sin and its consequences is the wonderful joy of spending one’s life as a child of God. “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children, now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory” (Romans 8:16-17). What better way for one to spend their life than living as a child of God and bearing glory to God through all that we do and say.

Dear reader, living for Jesus is the only way to live that brings with it any hope in the world to come. We buy insurance policies to protect loved ones in the event of our deaths. What sort of insurance do you have that will protect your soul for eternity? God has promised, and He’s faithful in His word, “I will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

Terry Broom, Broad Street church of Christ Scottsboro, A L