However, you've said to yourself I've got to get better first, or as I've heard some say, "I need to straighten myself up and start going to church." First of all, I'd say don't confuse simply going to church as being all God wants from you. God wants YOU. He wants you just as you are with all of your sin baggage and everything that comes with you. God loves you just as you are, but He loves you enough to not leave you the way you are.
God knows that without His Son Jesus being your savior that you are lost to spend eternity separated from Him in Hell. He loves you too much to see you choose that as your destiny, so this is why you need to come to Him now and accept the free gift that He gave to you for your salvation - His Son Jesus!
Luke 18:10-14 says,
10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ 13 And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
To be Born Again one must come to God on His terms just as the tax collector did in the above passage. He knew that there was nothing good within him, and that God was holding all the cards (so to speak). The tax collector came before God in prayer knowing his own sinful condition, and knowing God alone could cleanse him. He didn't seek to "get better first" for he knew it was not possible to do apart from God. Consider the following verses...
Matthew 9:13 says,
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Luke 15:18-24 (The Prodigal Son Parable)
18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’
20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
Isaiah 45:22
“Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Matthew 6:33
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Luke 15:1-7
1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
In conclusion, trying to get yourself better before accepting Jesus is a foolish thing to attempt for it is ONLY JESUS that can take away your sin, and it is your sinful condition that keeps you from ever "getting better".
Wouldn't this be a foolish thing to say? For we know that it will take going to the gym first to get the person in shape. The same is true of coming to Christ. He wants you just the way you are because He wants to help you. Won't you choose to accept Him as you Lord and Savior, and serve Him with your life today?
