THE GOSPEL TRUTH
I used to envy unbelievers.
As a child, and until my late teens, I remember wishing I was born into a pagan home. I would hear different renditions of the gospel that focused on how we were all “doing bad things” and Jesus didn’t like that so we must stop and “do good things” instead.
Now I was raised in the average Nigerian Christian home where the “rod of correction” was an active participant. Trust me, I learned early enough not to do bad things so this left me even more confused about this salvation topic. Whenever I heard a scary or tear-jerking sermon in children’s church, I would raise my right hand and place the left one on my chest hurriedly to repent of my known and unknown sins. In my heart, I truly believed I wasn’t a bad person but somehow everyone said I still needed salvation. I started to feel jealous of pagans and the “obviously bad” people. At least they fit the description of the people Jesus came to save but I didn’t.
Fast forward to my early teens, I had almost forgotten all about my dilemma. I learned to quiet my curiosity and just play church. I became very sin-conscious and burdened myself with guilt and shame whenever I did “bad things” and at some point, everything went quiet. I was numb and that wasn’t the best way to enter the thick of my teenage years.
I was now at the point where we “do bad things”, tell Jesus we’re sorry, and do the next bad thing (I just exclaimed “Omo!!” in my head <insert countless laughing emojis>). The heart was hardened and I’m sure you can already imagine the kind of decisions I made. (I just took a break while writing this to cringe). I wouldn’t bore you with the details, just know that I had finally “qualified” for the salvation I was offered in my childhood. Now, I tried to do “good things” but I couldn’t sustain it. My mind would accuse me and my patterns would betray me.
Then I met Jesus. Rather, Jesus found me and sat with me in the messiness that had now become my life. No words were spoken, but I had met with Love and instantly realized that it was all a lie. I didn’t have to do bad things to be deserving of His love, neither did I have to do good things to be liked by Him. I knew that I did nothing to earn the love I felt at that moment. I was at my worst and the Jesus I heard about would never be caught dead even a mile away from someone in my state. But this Jesus wasn’t disappointed. No. Instead, it was as though he felt my sadness with me. I didn’t have to explain anything to Him. In that moment, I knew He knew. He saw me and knew me fully, yet He loved and still loves me relentlessly.
This is the Jesus I present to you today. This is the gospel. Salvation made available to all regardless of how good or bad you think you’ve been.
Look, sin is a nature not necessarily an act (Stay with me) and Jesus came to free us from that nature and give us His nature. This is why no one can receive salvation by stopping the sinful acts. That would be like continuously mopping the kitchen floor instead of fixing the leak. That’s it. The leak is the root of the problem just as the sin nature is the root of every other sinful act.
He sees us as we are, loves us, and offers us a chance to be free of this burden that plagues us. On that cross, He took our sins and died to sin in our stead. Now, by believing in what He has done, we receive a new nature – HIS NATURE.
“He personally carried our sins in His body on the cross [willingly offering Himself on it, as on an altar of sacrifice], so that we might die to sin [becoming immune from the penalty and power of sin] and live for righteousness…” [AMP]
“He himself carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we would be dead to sin and live for righteousness…” [TPT]
(1 Peter 2:24)
Now, coming back to the sinful acts, sin is not in God’s nature and now that you have received salvation, it is no longer in yours too. We are dead to sin remember?
I can feel myself getting excited just thinking about what I’m about to type! It’s like that part of the movie where you think the hero has run out of ammunition only to find out they have an extra trick up their sleeves (I’m laughing so hard right now and rethinking adding this to the post <lol> if you can see this, hiiiiiiiiiiii !!! okay back to the story).
Now God doesn’t save you and send you off with a stern “don’t do it again” kinda warning. Instead, He has given us His Spirit to renew our minds, strengthen us, and give us the desire to do what pleases Him. He has given us the promised Holy Spirit.
This is the Gospel:
Jesus came and lived amongst us. He died, nailing our sins to the cross, and was buried.
On the third day, He rose from the grave, having conquered death. Now all who believe in what He did have also conquered death.
He died in our stead and gave us access to a new life- His life.
This is the God I present to you today. He is not a dictator but a Father. He sees you at every point, knows your every need, and is proactive in his love for you. This is the relationship sin was hindering. Father and child. This is the relationship Jesus died to give you. He hit the reset button. We’re back to our relationship in Eden. Now we have direct access to God. Now we can come boldly to Him and call Him “Father”. Our Daddy.
This is the gospel- God’s perfect plan to save us even when we didn’t know we needed saving.
Do you believe?
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