Lessons from the Gospel

MY husband loves to talk about the gospel, which in turn has caused me to focus more on the gospel. It is interesting how refreshing life can be when you realize the true depth and nature of the gospel. The essence of the gospel is God's love for us. Because God's love for us is so immense, so absolute, He sent His son to die in our place. Not only does the death of Christ remove our sins, but it makes us full and redeemed in God. When God looks at us, He no longer sees a sinner, He sees a redeemed and whole son or daughter. Do you understand the pressure that takes off of us? Now, this does not give us a pass on sin, but it should give us a motivation to live in worship to God.

SO many people claim that the Christian life is so hard, but in reality it should not be hard. Okay, think of it this way, when a parent loves a child that child wants to spend time with his parent, wants to draw pictures for his parent, wants to hug and kiss his parent, not because he has to but because he wants to, and he wants to because his parents love him. Make sense? When a parent shows love to a child he is saying that his child is worthy, valued, and beautiful (my husband shared that with me), and when the child feels worthy, valued, and beautiful he lives a free life. A life free of pressure to please and succeed, and a life free from things that devalue and strip worth. This should be the same for us as believers and children of God because God's love is so much greater than the love of a parent for a child. Since God loves us so deeply, we should want to love Him in return. We should not go to church because we feel we have to, but because God loves us so much we should want to be in church. We shouldn't read our Bibles because we have to but because God loves us so much we want to. We shouldn't sing, pray, give because we have to, but because God loves us so much we want to.

NOW when it comes to sin, we know that we have a sin nature, and most people say that overcoming that sin nature is what makes the Christian life so hard. I say it shouldn't have to be so hard because of the Gospel. Remember what I said above about value, worth, and beauty? Well the Gospel makes us valued, worthy, and beautiful in the eyes of God. He doesn't want us to sin, not because it hurts Him or because it's a rule that we must follow or because if we sin God won't be happy with us and deny us access to Him. No, we should not sin because we are worthy, valued, and beautiful to God. How could we do harm to something that God sees as valuable, worthy, and beautiful?

THE other day my husband brought the gospel into our marriage. Because of the gospel, God sees us as redeemed and whole, our sins removed and our slates wiped cleaned. If I make the gospel my focus, I should view everything through the lens of the gospel, including my marriage. So, when I look at my husband, I should see him as God sees him: redeemed and whole. A redeemed and whole man is worthy of my love and respect. When my husband looks at me, he should see me as redeemed and whole and worthy of his love and respect. Again, this removes so much pressure from our marriage. God sees us as worthy, forgiven, valued, and beautiful, so we should see each other as the same. When I learn to see my husband through the lens of the gospel I will love and respect him so much more.