For the last several weeks I've been on
a journey of rediscovering the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It may sound
like a strange thing to do, but when things are a miss I go back to
the beginning to get a new prospective.
The gospel that most people hear is not
all that good news. The Gospel of Jesus Christ that is presented is
“Jesus the Son of God died on a cross for your sins and rose again.
All your sins are forgiven. If you accept Jesus you are saved and not
going to Hell” That's a synopsis of the preaching I've have heard –
but then come the clincher “now you need to do this and that to
keep from losing your salvation.”
The burden of salvation is put back on
our shoulders. We are given the impression that we better not sin or
God won't answer our prayers or do something awful to us to get us to
tow the mark. Well that is NOT Good News, because we know we just
can't stay sinless for the rest of our lives.
What I discovered is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ has not changed an iota. My flawed thinking and wrong
teaching led me down the path of Works Salvation. Salvation had
become about what I did, how I prayed, how I served God, how I spent
time in scriptures, how I gave my time and my money. But that is not
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The definition of Gospel means: News
too good—it is almost unbelievable! Complete victory. That is
amazing! So how are we misunderstanding this awesome news?
We live in a world that has turned away
from our Creator. We have intuition of the existence of our Creator
and His power. But because of our self-centered desires, we operate
totally on our emotions. If things go according to our plans and
schemes, then we feel happiness. If things go wrong then we turn
against the Creator, we know who is all powerful and blame Him for
our calamities.
So what does this have to do with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ? Everything!
Before we had a need, God provided a
solution. Before this generation had even thought of doing wrong –
God provided Jesus. Jesus forgave all the sins of the whole world for
every generation that has existed or will exist. Try and get your
mind around that. God is Good! God Loves Us!
“For God so loved the world that He
gave His only Son – that whosoever believes in Him would not perish
but have eternal life” John 3:16
Jesus either paid it all – or he paid
nothing! That is something we need to correct our thinking.
Many of us believe in Jesus and have
accepted His payment for our sins, but feel so unworthy of Him. We
can not understand how to fully receive the gift and try to do
something to merit favor.
“It is by grace we are saved through
faith. It is a gift from God that no man can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9
God didn't provide salvation because
any of us were especially good or righteous. God provided salvation
because He loves us. We can never, no matter how good we think we
are, what religious tasks we do earn God's favor – His gift to us
has always been His Love, a love so great it passes all
comprehension.
Along this journey I have scratched the
surface of many wonderful truths. I am pursuing God with a completely
different prospective. I want the Life Jesus promised, overwhelming
life – the Joy of being in the presence of God, and the Hope that
strengthens my Faith. I want to know that all encompassing Peace the
Bible talks about – don't you?
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