So I’ve been thinking about this adventure I’ve been on. Remembering some of the high lights and memorable moments. Reviewing some of my fears and hesitations and the realities I discovered in order to see how far I’ve come. Tonight I went online to check my support account (I only need 4.77 to be fully funded!) and found myself rereading my World Race application. The very first section invites you to describe, in your own words, what the gospel is.
I reread my answer to that question and I really liked it. One of the things that I haven’t done a lot of in my blogs is present the gospel or say exactly what I believe. I want to do that at least once. Check out the answer I wrote on my application. I promise it’s worth the read even if you have been a Christian your whole life. : )
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Love.
Simply put God loved us so much that he gave us the choice to sin and when we did he loved us so much, despite our sinful state, that he died to give us a second chance to choose relationship with him. The good news is that God is pursuing you. No matter who or where you are the profound truth is God loves you and His love changes everything.
I used to have a grand explanation for what the gospel is but I also had an incomplete understanding of the nature of God. God is love and the core of the gospel is his love for humanity.
John 3:16 is quoted so often it’s almost tempting to disregard it but what it actually says is profound.
“For God so LOVED the world, that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Gospel is God’s message of love to the world… When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden they traded relationship with God for death. Because he loved them God determined to restore relationship with them. The rest of the Bible is built on that pursuit for restoration and the climax is the death and resurrection of Jesus.
When he became our advocate and took our sins onto himself the veil in the temple was torn, enabling us to come boldly into the throne room. We have been restored to relationship with God and the abundant life that he offers us. We have been set free from the bondages of sin. The shame that we feel, the anxiety we experience, and the guilt that forces us to strive to prove ourselves is caught up in the blood of Christ and washed away.
We are made whole and complete. We are free to be exactly who we were created to be because God’s love for us has made us complete. God loves us; we no longer have to worry about our inability to follow the rules. We are empowered through relationship with Christ to pursue a life marked by the sign posts of righteousness. We are freed to walk with him daily depending on him to be strong when we are weak.
Not only are we forgiven for the sins that we ourselves have committed but we have been given the ability to forgive. Our desire for retaliation has been satisfied in the horror of the cross. We can turn those who have hurt us into the hands of the perfect judge with sanity knowing that the justice we desire will be perfectly satisfied.
God is a good judge. The punishment for sin that Jesus took onto himself at the cross not only covers OUR sins but those of our enemies. When someone hurts us a price has to be paid, we demand justice. When we look at the cross we see justice for the sins committed against us. We can place our enemies in the hands of God knowing that if they call on Jesus we got our justice in his death. If they refuse to call on him then God has prepared a place of eternal punishment. We can forgive just as we have been forgiven.
The freedom from sin experienced in the gospel is made complete when we are able to accept forgiveness and offer it in return. God loved us, wanted to see us free to pursue relationship with him and made a way for it to happen.That is the good news of the gospel.
