Alpha

The following excerpt is from the booklet, 'Why Jesus?' by Nicky Gumbel. If you would like a copy of the booklet, please contact the team at Alpha Malaysia.

"Relationships are exciting. They are the most important aspect of our lives – our relationships with our parents, boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife, children, grandchildren, friends, and so on.

Christianity is first and foremost about relationships rather than rules. It is about a Person more than a philosophy. It is about the most important relationship of all: our relationship with the God who made us. Jesus said that the first and greatest commandment is to love God. The second is to love our neighbour. So, it is also about our relationships with other people.

Why do we need him?

You and I were created to live in relationship with God. Until we find that relationship there will always be something missing in our lives. As a result, we are often aware of a gap. One rock singer described it by saying: 'I've got an emptiness deep inside.'

A woman, in a letter to me, wrote of 'a deep deep void'. Another young girl spoke of a 'a chunk missing in her soul'.

People try to fill this emptiness in various ways. Some try to close the gap with money, but that does not satisfy. Aristotle Onassis, who was one of the richest men in the world, said at the end of his life: 'Millions do not always add up to what a man needs out of life'.

Others try drugs or excess alcohol or sexual promiscuity. One girl said to me, 'These things provide instant gratification but they leave you feeling hollow afterwards.' Still others try hard work with music, sport or seek success. There may not be anything wrong with these in themselves but they do not satisfy that hunger deep inside every human being.

Even the closest human relationships, wonderful though they are, do not in themselves satisfy this 'emptiness deep inside'. Nothing will fill this gap except the relationship with God for which we were made.

According to the New Testament, the reason for this emptiness is that men and women have turned their backs on God.

Jesus said, 'I am the bread of life' (John 6:35). He is the only one who can satisfy our deepest hunger because he is the one who makes it possible for our relationship with God to be restored..."

To read the rest of 'Why Jesus' by Nicky Gumbel, email here