Forty one years ago

I read some Scriptures.

First one: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," This made sense to me, I knew I was imperfect, that I had no perfection inside I just needed to let out.

Second one: "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
The guy pointing these out to me said that what we could earn by our efforts was only death, but God offered us salvation as a gift. I'm not sure I believed all that in that moment, I've understood it more over the years.

The third one: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." The guy said this was the invitation, we needed to open the door of our lives and ask Jesus in. When he asked if I wanted to do that, I thought I could give this a try and see what happened. So I prayed to receive Christ, and felt an astonishing sense of peace for an hour or two. Then the emotion faded.

I've heard preaching that this verse really is not an appeal to nonbelievers to come to Christ for the first time, but an appeal to believers to keep on doing what they are supposed to do. That makes sense, because the message to the church in Laodicea (Rev 3:14-22) is that they are not nearly as good Christians as they think they are. The larger context is an appeal, "stop thinking you're so great, you've arrived. Come to me again, you need me as much as you ever did." The call to relationship to Jesus is true whether we've been Christians for years or never been Christians at all before.

Forty one years ago, I came for a relationship with Jesus. I still keep coming back for more.