The focus of the gospel is not on the inadequacy of mankind (including the transformation), but rather on the glory of God. I am transformed when I live in line with the gospel (Gal. 2:14)—avoiding both legalism and licentiousness—and pursuing the joy found in complete and utter surrender of my unrighteous life in exchange for his righteous life expressed graciously through every aspect of my Christian walk (Gal. 2:20).I often make the gospel about our wretchedness above the mercy and kindness of God. This is dumb. It's also something I'm fighting through (and against) at the moment.
Let's not make the gospel about us. It's all about Jesus.
(HT on the above quote: The Resurgence)
It's hard for me to keep focus on what the gospel actually is, in the midst of all the confusing messages flying around, such as Anne Rice's "radical core of [Christ's] teaching" (I feel a little bad for picking on her again). Same goes for "prosperity gospel", "condemnation gospel", to show human iniquity, the list goes on. Could it be that the problem with those is that the focus is wrong, that we're making it all about us? Perhaps the gospel is God's story to tell us about Him.
ReplyDeleteTo say what something isn't is usually easier than to nail down exactly what it is. I do struggle to answer when asked what I believe the message of the gospel to be and can only sucessfully answer in length and after a good bit of hemming and hawing and self-confusion. Can the gospel be summed up in a sentence or two? I have the 1990's Sunday School answer, but what do we get if we throw out what we've been taught and really think about it?