the GOSPEL.
It’s scandalous. It hurts. It shocks. It makes people angry because it reveals men for who they really are. It tells men they aren’t perfect. It tells men they’re wrong. “there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God” (Romans 3:11). Even though men will choose not to kill, they will treat each other with contempt. The human heart can never have pure motives on its own. It has a natural inclination to evil. That’s sin. Like Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17).
Get past the pride and hurt feelings. All men are sinners. And what happens? It kills them inside. It holds them captive. It’s that painful feeling of failure, emptiness, bitterness, coldness, anger, hopelessness, meaningless, and death. This is the problem. Men know something is lacking in their life, they just don’t know what it is. They can’t figure it out. This is what men have been trying to answer for the ages. Many have tried to fix this pandemic problem, but only ONE has succeeded : jesus. He died on a cross, came back to life through the power of God, defeated sin, and conquered death. Christ died for men while they were yet sinners because He wanted to set the captive free!
Jesus isn’t a soft-spoken man with perfect curls, holding a lamb. He is a warrior! He’s a fighter! He fights for those He loves! He stares the problem in the face, meeting it head on! He gulped down the wrath and anger of God against all unrighteousness, bore it upon His body, and became the last living sacrifice. All for us, so we wouldn’t have to. Instead, He wants to fix us!
Now that’s love. That’s worth living for.
I’m not perfect and neither or you. But I know One who is, and He has a plan to fix us and use us!
hallelujah.
