Matt Stouffer English Comp I September 10, 2013 This I Believe Essay I believe God saves shitty people.

For the last six years, this has been the core belief in my life. Growing up in church with parents that flew the Christian flag high and proud, I was thrown into a world that was much different from the average kid. Sure, there are lots of church-going families. They dont drink, smoke, cuss, or date girls who do. Theyre perfect. Right? I mean come on. Thats what it takes to be saved. Right? Dont I have to be this clean, righteous, weird, good, primped, holierthan-thou little smartass? Jesus only came to be the leader of good people. Right? I have got to work my way to heaven. Right? Wrong. All wrong. All of it was wrong. All my presuppositions of Christianity were false. Then I heard the real gospel. You know, the gospel that real Christians actually believed. Remember, I said the REAL Christians. I heard it one day. It forever changed me. It goes a little something like this. We, humans, are absolutely and completely wholly jacked-up. Every single one of us is in some way broken. So Jesus, being fully God and fully man came to earth to save broken people like me. Just like me. The hypocrite, the liar, the thief, the slanderer, the hater, the whore, the murderer, the 14 year old kid lost in his own misery. So what? What did he do? He lived perfectly. He lived the life I should have lived. The one that is worthy of heaven. He lived it for me. Then came the religious people. Damn, theyre annoying. DO THIS! God will love you. DO THAT! God will love you!

The religious people heard Jesus telling people God loved them regardless of what they do. So they killed him. No, they destroyed him. Crucified him. Flogged him. Why did Jesus let them do this? Because thats what he came to do, die for horrible people who dont deserve it, like me. Then he rose a few days later and left this earth. He defeated death. I always heard Jesus died for my sins, now I understood. He forgave me. So what do I have to do? I immediately thought after hearing this. Nothing. What? I say to myself. I hear a silent voice, Dont you get it Matt? It.is.not.aboutyou. Its not about what you are or what youve done. Its all about what Jesus did. He bought you. You dont have to be anything. Just be his. Follow him. Trust that this is true. Its gonna suck, Matt. People are going to hate you. They murdered Jesus, think what they might do to you. I think to myself. Your English class will think youre a dumbass. I might have said. Ok, thats fine. I say to myself. If this is true, then its worth it. People see Christianity in different ways. To some, its rubbish, nothing but fairytales and hilarious analogies. To others, its a poor attempt to gain power. But its not any of these. Its the story of hope. Its the story of redemption. Its the story of us being broken and loved. God saw the mess. He loves the mess. He wants the mess. He died for the mess. Hes cleaning up the mess. My life is forever changed. Ive been rescued. I have a reason to live. I have a reason to be happy. I have a reason to sing. My Jesus has ransomed me.

No longer do I live for myself and for my glory, but because of this unfair and undeserved mercy, I now live to serve a king, the king that saved me from myself. His name is Jesus. I obey him NOT to earn my salvation and NOT to gain his love, for he could not love me anymore nor any less. I follow him because I want to. Because hes a good God who knows what is good for his children, and I trust him. He has told me to go out and tell the world about his great love and mercy. So thats exactly what I will do. I believe that if you feel like a screw-up, you qualify for Jesus. I believe its not about you and your effort to be good. I believe that there is hope. I believe God saves shitty people.