The Incomprehensible Gospel
It was about the year 2002 when I stumbled into a conversation with a lady in our church. The conversation took a turn towards the gospel and the response that she said has stuck with me until this day. Right there before me was a woman who had only been on planet earth around 80 years and she told me, with a straight face, that she already knew the gospel. In the context of the conversation she was actually saying that she ‘knew’ the gospel. It was like she knew all there was to know about the gospel. I am not saying the lady was not saved and I am not judging her standing with God, but I am sure my facial expressions communicated a lot. I honestly do not remember what I said in response to her statement, but I do remember what I was thinking.
The reason I was taken back and held speechless was that I simply could not believe her audacity. There before my very eyes was a lady who had figured out the eternal gospel in about eighty years. Not only had she figured it out, but she wanted to move on to something else. I on the other hand felt that everything that I had learned about the gospel made me realize how much I did not know.
The following words are all words that give an aspect of the gospel and each word I am about to list have books written about them. When looking from different angels of the gospel we use words like atonement, expiation, propitiation, reconciliation, redemption, regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification, imputation, repentance, faith, adoption, perseverance, born from above, substitution, appeasement, righteousness, and etc. I assure you that I do not know all that there is to know about any of these words individually and I certainly do not know the depth of all of them together. The gospel is wider than the Grand Canyon, deeper than the Mariana Trench (36,070 to 36,201 feet deep), and higher than the heavens.
A man can spend the rest of eternity studying the gospel and never find the edges of it, the bottom of it, nor the height of it. Looking at the gospel is more intimidating than standing at the foot of the Swiss Alps and looking towards the top. The gospel is robust, authoritative, piercing, good news, freeing, pure, eternal, the source of praise, the reason of living, and it is the only hope for lost humanity. The gospel is so good and right, that it is the only solution for the entire world. The gospel is sufficient for those who are red, yellow, black, or white (as the old children song says). It is sufficient for Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free (as Paul says). The gospel is the theme of my song, the content of my preaching, the reason for my life, the joy of my heart, the food for my soul, and the drink that quenches my thirst. I am 100% satisfied with the gospel and yet I hunger and thirst every day. What does that mean? I am not looking anywhere else for satisfaction and the more I receive of the gospel the more I want. What about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment