The Gospel For The Rest Of Us

Maybe there is a pure gentleman out there. It’s certainly not me. I’m don’t make it very far through my own list and then I’m sliding down my chair in despair.

Oh the hypocrisy of the blogosphere!

It reminds me of this trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: ”For this we have the gospel.”

The gentleman’s rules remind me of the human struggle with God’s law. If my gentlemanly friends and I can think of and post a list of all those nice things, how come we cannot live them out? There must be something deeper going on here. In life, God has put another list for us to live by; it’s his natural law that he has buried deep within each human heart. The problem is that we do not live by this law. As a universal human condition, we do not live as we ought. Thankfully, Jesus lived by his own rules and fulfilled the law on our behalf. He was perfect because we couldn’t be.

Christians believe that we can be assured that when God sees them he no longer sees their failures but instead sees the perfect record of his Son who substituted himself for people by dying on a cross. This is the gospel- the good news of Christianity. Hebrews 10:14 says, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”

He perfected us. Past tense. It’s already done for us. That’s the gospel of grace.

To go back to the metaphor, Jesus was like the perfect gentleman. He always did what was right. Because I’m not, I want the perfect gentleman representing me- not on a date per se (though perhaps any help would be welcomed) but before my Creator who will be my judge when this is all over.

If you too were perhaps reading the gentleman’s rules and feeling inadequate, remember the gospel today. If you are feeling like you just can’t get the whole “Christian living” thing and feeling like giving up you too, 

Remember the gospel today.