Revisiting the Gospel

Jordan McKinney

Recently I have been poring over the powerful message of the Gospel and reflecting on how incredible the story really is. It is always important to reflect on the grace that we have received, and the freedom that we now live in by the Spirit. But I think that it is important to constantly go back to the Gospel and remind ourselves that our righteousness is something that we could never earn, but it is only the free gift of God.

First of all, it is crazy to think that from the beginning of time, God knew the whole story from the fall to His triumphant return. God not only sent His own son to pay the penalty for our sins, but being a triune God, He sacrificed His own life for ours. Our God is so powerful that with His breath he forms stars, and created everything with a word. The word He spoke in the beginning, “Let there be light,” is still echoing to the edges of the known universe and are still creating, and forming new creations. That powerful God loved us so much that He humbled himself to become one of us. He didn’t come as a ruler or a king, but showed us how to live by taking the role, and even the birth, of a servant. He, being perfect, decided to take on the sin, the wrath, and the punishment that each of us deserved. He conquered both sin and death to give us the free gift of adoption, forgiveness, and eternal life.

The crazy thing is that he has not made a list of demands that we have to follow. That is the Old Testament. The old way showed us how far removed our sin separated us from God and how utterly hopeless we are without Christ. He instead chose a different path. He gives us two commands, not because He is our creator, but instead to demonstrate His love for us. His two commands are to love one another, just like he already loved us, and to go into all the world, teaching the Gospel and all that Jesus taught us. The motivation for everything we do is to love others the same way he has loved us.

Now the real question for us is this, how can we share and show that same love? When you revisit the grace and forgiveness that we receive, how can we not love others? When you think that Jesus died for your neighbor, for your family members, for those that are in desperate need, how can we not be motivated to go and share that same love for others? The very nature of the Gospel is not just for us to feel good about God’s love for us, but it is designed to motivate us into action for the benefit of everyone. So what will you do with the good news that now lives inside of you?