I once witnessed a reluctant two-year-old who did not want to go up for the pastor’s children’s sermon. I could hear him rejecting his parents’ urging to join his siblings. But things changed when the pastor said, “Kids, today you’re going to get candy.” I tell you under oath that toddler legs have never moved that fast! That kid hurled his little body into the group like a major leaguer diving into second base. 

Maybe that sounds like your story. You might have thought that God and Jesus and the Bible and religion weren’t worth your time, that Christianity was unnecessary and/or undesirable. Maybe that’s why you stayed away for so many years. But then you heard a clear explanation of what God wanted to give you, an eternity way sweeter than a handful of candy. God wanted to be with you in a place where the relief and the rejoicing never end. Despite your reluctance and rejection, he wanted you still! 

When the Holy Spirit opens your heart to see the glorious gift of God, you run to Jesus like the little kid I saw that day. You want his grace. You’ll do anything to be close to his love.

That’s what happened to Paul. After his change of heart, he wrote, “What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). No matter what he costs you, Jesus is worth it.