Why Would I Want God?
In HIs IMage. For His Purpose. That's why life matters.
The Missing Question in Many Gospel Conversations
There is an evangelistic method used by many Christians called “The Way of the Master,” developed by Ray Comfort. You may have heard it presented in a conversation, something like this (paraphrased).
A Christian approaches someone and asks, “Do you consider yourself to be a good person?” Most people answer yes. The conversation then continues with questions such as, “Have you ever lied, stolen, lusted, or taken God’s name in vain?” The person usually admits that they have.
They are then asked, “On the Day of Judgment, according to God’s standard, will you be found guilty or innocent?” Since they have acknowledged breaking God’s law, they recognize that they are guilty and deserving of judgment. The Christian then presents the good news of the gospel: that Jesus Christ has made a way for sinners to be forgiven, and that through repentance and faith in Him, they can receive salvation.
To me, this approach can sometimes leave people focused primarily on their guilt before God without fully understanding why reconciliation with God is such good news. It can also leave some people with the impression that salvation is only about sin—that I simply have to stop sinning in order to be with God. But it leaves an important question unanswered: I know I am guilty before God, but why would I want to be with Him in the first place? To me, we leave out the most important thing: who is God?
The law can show us our need for salvation, but we must also present the beauty and worth of the One who saves.
God is the Creator of the earth, the heavens, and the entire universe. We were created through Jesus and for Jesus. We bear His image, and our value is found in Him. He is life, truth, justice, and love. Apart from God, these things have no ultimate foundation. Apart from God, truth becomes opinion, justice becomes preference, and love becomes something we define for ourselves.
God is our life, our identity, and the very reason for our existence. From Him all things began, and by Him all things are sustained. He alone is the source of life. Apart from Him, there is no true life, for to live separated from God is not merely to miss something good—it is to exist apart from the very reality for which we were created.
“The greatest gift of the gospel is not that we escape hell, but that we are brought home to the God for whom our hearts were created.”
His love is eternal, perfect, and beyond the full comprehension of finite minds. He is our Father, our Lord, and our Creator—the One for whom our hearts were made. Because He is infinite and we are limited, we could never fully understand the depths of His wisdom or His ways. Yet in our blindness, humanity has had the audacity to reject Him, thinking we know better. Still, His love has never ceased. He does not bow to our rebellion, but in His patience, He allows us the freedom to choose and to experience the emptiness and futility of life apart from Him.
I lived roughly forty years apart from God and have now lived more than twenty years knowing Him. I have experienced the love of God, and there are no words that can fully describe it. No drug, no person, no accomplishment, no pleasure, and no greatest moment of life can compare to His love.
When you truly encounter the love of God, it feels like finally coming home. It is finding truth, purpose, and the reason for your existence. It is seeing life through a new light—a perspective that makes sense of everything. The things we spend our lives chasing apart from God suddenly pale in comparison, because in Him we discover what we were searching for all along.
His love is unlike any other love. It is the breath that fills empty lungs, the living water that satisfies a thirsty soul, and the heartbeat that gives life to a heart that was once dead.
Jesus said, “I did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Me.” Humanity's rebellion against God brought the cancer of sin and death into the world and into every one of our hearts. It is our sin that put Jesus on the cross, and that same sin leaves us already condemned and unable to stand before a holy God.
Yet Jesus did not come merely to declare our guilt. He came to offer us life. He says, “Do you see what sin has done? Do you see how it has left you broken, separated from God, and unable to save yourself? Come and find life in Me. I created you, I have redeemed you, and now come and live for the One you were made for.”
If escaping sin and hell is the only reason you desire salvation, then you have missed the greatest treasure of the gospel: a relationship with Jesus Himself. In Him is true life, perfect love, and ultimate truth.
From the beginning, God has desired a relationship with us. He did not create us simply to perform rituals, achieve moral perfection, or earn His approval through our obedience. He desires our hearts. Through the new birth, He transforms us from within, pouring His love into us and creating a relationship that naturally produces obedience—not as a means of earning His love, but as the response to having received it.
This relationship goes beyond the physical, beyond what our eyes can see, and beyond the temporary pleasures of this world. It is an eternal bond with the One who created us, loves us, and is Himself the source of all life.
The gospel is not merely that Jesus saves us from hell. The gospel is that Jesus brings us back to the God for whom we were created.
