What were you made for?

God is holy, and he made you.

God is not an idea, a feeling, or a force. He is the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. He has always been, and he will never change. He is perfectly wise, powerful, good, and just. Above all, he is holy: entirely pure, without any evil at all.

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!

Isaiah 6:3

You are not an accident. God made you, in his own image, to know him. You were made to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. That is why nothing else in life ever fully satisfies.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27

We have turned away from him.

We were made to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbour as ourselves. None of us has done it. We have not just made mistakes. We have gone our own way, put ourselves in God's place, and broken his law in thought, word, and deed. The Bible calls this sin.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:23

Because God is holy and just, he cannot overlook sin. It separates us from him, and it deserves his judgment, both now and forever. And we cannot fix it ourselves. Trying harder, being religious, or doing good deeds cannot pay what we owe or change our hearts.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6:23

God sent his Son to redeem sinners.

This is the good news. God did not leave us in our sin. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who became a real man without ceasing to be God.

Jesus lived the perfect life of obedience that we have not lived. Then he died on a cross, bearing God's just judgment against sin in the place of sinners. On the third day he rose bodily from the dead. He is alive today, reigning at God's right hand, and he will return to judge the world.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

1 Peter 3:18

That is what it means to be redeemed: bought back at a price. God forgives every sin of those who belong to Christ and counts them righteous, not because of anything they have done, but because of what Christ has done for them.

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Turn from sin, and trust in Christ.

God now commands all people everywhere to repent, and he freely offers Jesus Christ to you. This is not an offer for some other, better kind of person. It is for you, today, just as you are.

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

Mark 1:15

Repentance means turning: seeing your sin for what it is, grieving over it, and turning from it to God. Faith means receiving and resting on Christ alone for salvation. It is not trusting in your own goodness, or in a prayer you said, or in a decision you made. It is trusting him.

As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel 33:11

You can call on him now, in your own words. Confess your sin to him, and ask him to have mercy on you for Christ's sake. There is no special formula. Salvation is God's gift, and his promise is sure: no one who comes to Christ will be turned away.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 6:37

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28