Perfection not required to enter God’s Kingdom

A Rosemont neighborhood couple learned recently that people do not have to be perfect to become Christians, as they willingly surrendered their lives to Christ. When He spoke to their hearts, the two were ready to listen.

Jinha Kim, a bachelor’s student in Scarborough College, and Daniel Kim, a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, were paired together to evangelize in a neighborhood just southwest of the seminary campus earlier this semester, and they witnessed to a middle-aged couple at the first house they visited. 

At first, only Hilario was home, and he initially told the Southwesterners that he was too busy to talk. But as the evangelists spoke to him, he became more willing to listen to the Gospel, and they spent an hour speaking with him. When Angie, Hilario’s wife, returned home, they spoke to her as well. 

“They believed in God, but as anticipated, they thought the way to heaven was through good works,” says Daniel. “As a result, we spent most of our time explaining that Christ’s atoning work on the cross alone is sufficient to pay for our sins, and that it is by faith alone that we receive His gift of salvation.”

“I noticed that, at one point, they were wiping tears from their eyes,” Jinha says. “I think it was a lot to take in, because the concept of us not having to be perfect was hard for them to believe.”

“We asked them if they would like to receive Jesus into their lives and the free gift of salvation,” she says. “They both said they did.”

The evangelists confirmed the couple’s understanding of the Gospel by asking several diagnostic questions. “We eventually arrived at a place where we felt comfortable they understood the sufficiency of Christ for their salvation,” Daniel says. 

Hilario and Angie each prayed their confession to God, and then Daniel prayed for them as well. The evangelists left the couple a Bible, a DVD, and numerous tracts, and the couple expressed a desire to be connected to a church. The Southwesterners put them in touch with a Spanish-speaking congregation nearby. 

“We hugged them as we welcomed them into the family of Christ,” Jinha says. As the evangelists departed, Jinha observed that the couple seemed “peaceful—different from when we first came in.”