It was a typical day at the office for Ryan. He sat at his desk, answering emails and working on spreadsheets, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing in his life. He had everything he thought he wanted – a successful career, a loving wife, and a comfortable home – but still, there was a restlessness in his soul.
One afternoon, as Ryan was walking to his car after work, he noticed a group of people gathered on the sidewalk. He couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but as he got closer, he heard snippets of their conversation. They were talking about God, about salvation, about the hope that comes from faith.
Ryan felt a stirring inside him that he couldn’t ignore. He approached the group and listened intently as they shared their stories of how they came to know Christ. As he listened, Ryan felt a call to faith growing within him, a yearning to know God in a deeper way.
That night, Ryan couldn’t stop thinking about what he had heard on the sidewalk. He pulled out his Bible and turned to Romans 10, a chapter he had never really read before. As he read, he was struck by the words in verse 9: "If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
Something shifted inside Ryan as he read those words. He realized that he had been living his life for himself, but now he wanted to live for Jesus. He wanted to declare that Jesus was Lord and believe in his heart that God had raised him from the dead.
The next day, Ryan went back to the sidewalk where he had encountered the group of believers. He found the person who had spoken to him the day before and told them that he wanted to give his life to Jesus. They prayed together, and Ryan felt a sense of peace wash over him that he had never experienced before.
Now, Ryan lives his life with a newfound purpose. He tells anyone who will listen about the hope and joy that comes from knowing Christ. He knows that he is saved by grace through faith, just as it says in Romans 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Ryan’s life has been transformed by the call of faith, a call that he could not ignore. He knows that he is now part of a family of believers, a community that is united by their love for Jesus. And he knows that he will never be the same again.