Why should I want to be saved?

"For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body." —2 Corinthians 5:10 (NLT)

There are few people in this world who truly believe that they never do anything wrong. If anyone says that, they're either lying or completely deluded (1 John 1:8).

As the Creator of all people, God's given us standards to live up to—regardless of what anyone believes about Him. He designed us to love Him and others and to flourish together (Matthew 22:37-40). Yet, every day, we make choices that go against His standards (Romans 3:23).

God is a Righteous Judge

"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day." —Psalm 7:11

Doing the right thing is the baseline. It's the bare minimum God expects from us. But we can't even live up to that—let alone make up for what we owe Him for our rebelliousness (Romans 3:10-12). It might seem unfair, but God's justice is righteous (Psalm 33:5).

God is perfectly good. He must fairly judge sin and enforce a judgement for rejecting His ways. The punishment for sin is spiritual separation from Him in eternity. Since He made our souls to exist forever, sinners will be separated from Him forever in a place called hell (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).

Hell is Eternal Torment

"The King will turn to those on the left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.'" —Matthew 25:41 (NLT)

Hell is eternal torment: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Judgment in hell is everything we were NOT designed for—but everything we deserve (Revelation 14:10-11; 2 Corinthians 4:4). In hell, there is no other source of goodness and love. Eternity away from God is separation from everything good and every form of love. Forever.

Unbelievers in hell are fully conscious of their sin, and they fully understand that they deserve to be where they are (Romans 1:19-20). Existence in hell is the unbearable awareness of one's own sin, of having rejected God, of separation from the divine Creator we were created to be in eternal closeness with.

God is Perfect Love

"God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners." —Romans 5:8 (NLT)

While God is perfectly righteous, He is also perfectly loving and full of grace and mercy (Ephesians 2:4-5; James 2:13). Sometimes it's hard to fully embrace that because our expectations and desires are so broken. But this brokenness is exactly why we need to be saved in the first place (1 John 4:8; 2 Corinthians 4:4).

God desires for us to find fulfillment in life—both now and for eternity (2 Peter 3:9). So in His grace and mercy, He offers a way to save us from the punishment of sin and an existence away from His goodness and love (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:24).

"For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him." —John 3:16-17 (NLT)

Our First Motivation to Be Saved

"The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed but wants everyone to repent." —2 Peter 3:9 (NLT)

Probably every Christian's very first motivation for wanting mercy from God is that we don't want to spend eternity in hell. It's the highest foolishness to want to go to hell. It's good to not want to be judged and spend eternity in torment. That's a fantastic place to begin. If that's where you're at, it's a good thing.

There's often a misunderstanding that it's bad to seek salvation just because you're afraid of hell. That's not what the apostle Paul says though. The entire point of his short message to the philosophers in Athens was that God's judgment is coming, and they should want to escape (Acts 17:30-31).

But let's not stop at the fear of hell. There are other reasons to want to be saved. If eternal separation from God is the greatest horror possible, eternal restoration with God is the greatest good we could ever experience. As you discover how Jesus saves, also examine all the ways He loves you. If you can understand His deep love for you, then true remorse, repentance, and an honest desire for reconciliation will follow.

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