In correspondence this week, a man raised in the church, spoke of the constant fear he felt about his spiritual state when he was younger. The “Gospel” he heard was focused on the wrong thing – the awful state of the sinful- rather than on the amazing love of God! I could empathize with him because that is how I heard the “Gospel” as well.
Yes, it is true that ‘all have sinned and fallen short’ of God’s plan for life. None of us can claim to be without fault or failure. Even our best efforts to be good enough for God never come close to His perfection. “But God …” is how Ephesians says it. The focus is not on me, nor you, nor on our guilt. The Good News is that He “is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life.” (Ephesians 2)
That truly is Good News, the Gospel! Multiplying guilt and deepening shame is not what God does in us. He offers us restoration with Himself, hope for the future, and a life marked by love, joy, and peace. Knowing Jesus is not just about gaining a ‘get of Hell’ pass, nor is it even about ‘going to Heaven.’ It is about moving into a completely different way of living, centered on God’s care and goodness.
The late Dallas Willard spoke of the tragedy of reducing Christianity to mere moralism, attempting to make people act marginally better than their neighbors using fear of judgment. He coined a phrase I truly love – “the gospel of sin management.’ Christians who try and try, on their own, to reform their ways, who work hard at just managing temptation, have embraced a Sisyphean task, rolling a stone up a hill over and over, only to have it come tumbling back to bottom. The result is increasing fear, a defensive spirit that is often critical of others, and an utter lack of the joy of living that Jesus offers us.
We are called to true transformation, not because we ‘do’ better but because we are truly changed, inside out, and become whole!
When a religious leader came to Jesus seeking an answer for his spiritual hunger, the Lord did not tell him to work harder at perfecting himself, nor did he teach him moral principles. He turned that man’s gaze to God’s grace and told him - “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3, NLT)
Have you placed your trust in Jesus?
Have you learned to rest in the fact of the finished work of salvation from sin
that HE accomplished on your behalf?
The Word teaches us that we are ‘justified’ by faith in the Son.
Amazingly wonderful is the promise of the so-called second chapter of faith which
is that we are then called to be “God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew
in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2) Life that is whole, hopeful,
rich in love, deep in forgiveness, which seeks peace with others flows from the
life of the Holy Spirit which Jesus says flows out of our inner being like ‘rivers
of living water.’
What a different from the miserable life of those who know just enough about God to become obsessed with their sin and failure, stuck in fear and dread.
Come home to the Father! He is waiting with open arms to embrace you today.
The word from the Word comes from Romans and summarizes the hope we find in Jesus’ love. “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.” (Romans 5, NLT)
Now that’s Good News!
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