The Gospel

Life is tough.  Each day can seem like an uphill climb. Many times life is tough because of things we’ve done, or things we wish we’d done instead. We tell ourselves that the bad decisions we’ve made are no big deal, that we can just move on and forget about the wrong we’ve done, or that we can just do more good to make up for whatever bad is in our past. It is part of human nature to think that we can fix ourselves, or pull ourselves up by our own boot straps, so to speak. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way; we can’t fix the broken spiritual part of ourselves. It is permanently flawed. The reason for that is called “sin”. Sin has broken us, flawed us, and separated us. It is a flaw in our spiritual code that keeps us from functioning as we were designed. Sin makes life tough, and if it’s not dealt with, it will take away our lives…eternally.

A lot of people think that Jesus was just a good man who did good things. They may even go so far as to say that He was a prophet, but Jesus is much more than that. He came to earth not just to give us a good example to follow, but to fix our spiritual flaws. He lived a perfect life on earth in our place. He took our punishment for sin through His own death on the cross, and then He destroyed mankind’s final enemy, Death, by living again. He is our Savior because He is God, and He came to rescue us when we could not help ourselves. He is the only One who can fix our broken spiritual code, because He is the One who wrote our code perfectly in the first place.

We can’t hide from God. He already knows everything about us. Hiding and burying our pain and regret becomes nothing more than a heavy weight to carry all day every day. That is the uphill battle. So at the end of the day, can you say that your plan is working for you? Is the sin dealt with or is it still there waiting for you to carry again and again?

It may seem counterintuitive to trust someone else with our own faults, but Jesus Christ is not just another person. Each of us must trust that Jesus is who the Bible says He is: Savior, God. Repent of your sin and trust that He can give you a new life…one that is eternal. Jesus won’t make all your problems disappear. He will give you much more than that: peace, rest, strength, power, joy, truth, understanding.

Trust Jesus.