To imagine what sin is like, think about trying to swim with a weight tied around your neck that is so heavy you could never lift it. Or picture a stain on your soul that could never be washed out, no matter how hard you scrub. Sin is a mark of death. It has many destructive effects on us, our relationships, and our communities. It infects everything, and it hardens our hearts to admitting we need God’s help. Ultimately, it separates us from the loving God who created us. Most practically defined, sin is missing the mark of perfection. Does that describe your life? All of us would love to be perfect, but it never happens! Even the good we do could be exposed for being done with wrong motives much of the time.

Whatever metaphor you want to use to understand sin, God makes it very clear what the remedy is. He calls it the gospel. That word means “good news.” John 3:16 is the most popular verse in the world; everyone has seen it somewhere. It says, “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.” This is the good news for everyone who wants to be made right and set free from the wrong that lives in us. It’s an offer for everyone who hears and understands why Jesus came: Believe in Jesus, and in exchange, you can receive forgiveness from your sin and the consequence that comes with it—an eternity separated from the perfect, holy, loving God.

Wait—this seems too good to be true! God just wants me to believe? What does that look like? True belief means having true trust in God and understanding that Jesus Christ is our only hope for salvation from our sins. The genuine kind of belief God wants from us also means having a heart that is humble and desires to turn away from the sin that separates us from Him. He doesn’t want lip service or the fake, surface-level belief that our modern culture often displays—believing one thing one day and another the next. He wants people who will cry out to Him for salvation for today and for every day moving forward. It is a weighty, committed, true belief that He desires; this is the true belief in Jesus Christ that brings forgiveness for sins. Paul says it this way in his letter to the Romans: “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).