The Road to Life
There is probably someone in your life, who is not a Christian, that you really want to tell about Jesus Christ. It always feels a bit scary to tell someone about what you believe. You might think that they won’t like you anymore, or that they will laugh at you, or just won’t listen. However, what we can say is that these are just thoughts and feelings, which are O.K. and can be expressed. What God wants us to do is talk to people about Jesus even when it feels scary. If you don’t know what to say, a good place to start is with the Roman Road. The Roman Road is a series of 4 bible verses from the book of Romans and one from John’s gospel. It explains everything a non-Christian needs to know about God. So we’ll go through it step by step, then it will help you share God’s truth with a friend.
The first verse of the Roman Road is Romans 3:10, which says: “There is none righteous, no, not one.” This means that nobody is good and honest and has obeyed God. Lots of people believe that they are “good people” because they haven’t done anything REALLY bad, or because they help old ladies across the street! God says that there is not one person who is righteous.
The next verse, Romans 3:23, says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This emphasizes the fact that every single person (except Jesus Christ) has disobeyed God. Since we are all born containing the spirit of sin, we all break God’s law. To “fall short of the glory of God” means that we don’t measure up to His standard, so we are not worthy of His praise.
Romans 6:23 tells us: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So, we know that everybody has sinned, and this verse tells us that what we get, “the wages” for that is death. We know that everybody dies physically on earth but what death means here is spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. However, the good news is that because God loves us, he gives us a gift greater than we deserve. In my Bible the reference for gift says “free gift,” which tells us God gives eternal life FREE OF CHARGE to us. We can live forever in Christ, because He took “the wages” for all our sin.
We know God’s gift is free, but how do we get it? The answer is in Romans 10:13 “For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” To call means “to utter aloud,” so if we speak out loud that we want to accept God’s gift through Jesus Christ then we will be saved from death. We can live with God forever in heaven.
The final scripture of the Roman Road, John 3:16, sums up what we have learned: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” This reminds us that God loves us so much the He sent His Son, who never sinned, to take our punishment. Even though we deserve death, if we believe in Jesus Christ we can live in heaven forever.
It’s a good idea to write these verses in your Bible so that you have them handy when you need them. So, why not take someone you know for a stroll down the Roman Road? It can change their life!
