Gospel
literally translated means “good news” or “glad tidings”. At 5 I believed that good news and asked
Jesus into my heart while I bowed my head at my little desk. Many times over the next years, I would doubt
that good news, and used my juvenile power of persuasion to beg forgiveness and
ask Jesus to come back into my heart. I
knew what the good news was – that God had sent his son Jesus to earth, to take
on the form of a man and live the life of a man; to be put to death as a man as
atonement for all the world’s sin, and to rise from the grave three days later,
completing the debt and returning to the right hand of God until he comes
again. I knew that, and yet somehow I
believed that my childish sins were so grave that I alone needed to continue to
ask for salvation – time and time again.
As I matured, though, the gospel changed shape and became something I
clung to… something I grabbed hold of, white knuckled and fierce… moments when
it would seem like I was Dorothy in the tornado, my life swirling around me in
a black cloud. The Gospel was there… the
truth of who God was (is), who his son was (is) and what that meant for my
life. The truth remains, whether I doubt
it or not. The truth remains, whether I
trust it or not. The truth remains, whether
I deserve it or not. For God so.loved Joy… that He gave his only son,
that if Joy believes in him, she should not perish, but have eternal life… God
did not send his son for Joy to condemn
Joy, but in order that Joy might be saved
through him. This is the truth of
the Gospel for me. I am not
condemned. My sins – past, present and
future, were nailed to a cross on a hill, with a man who was God who took them
willingly, and died in my place. It’s
that simple and that profound. I did
nothing to deserve this… I will never earn it and yet my life profits from it
every single day. I don’t know if I will
ever live my life fully embracing this Gospel I love… this story of the Christ
I love… I think it’s one of those things that you rediscover over and
over. It’s that awe-inspiring, jaw
dropping, “I don’t deserve this, but I can’t NOT take it” gift from a God who
loves me… and a Christ who embraced the darkest parts of me to allow me to
embrace His light in my life. This is
the Gospel. This is my good news.
