The Gospel is For Everyone

    As humans, we tend to want so badly to be right. We want so badly for our points of argument to be right because in always being in the right, we feel like there is value. I see this in arguments so much where people are so stuck on one point where they refuse to look at the other side of the argument. 

    I was entering a Christian school for the first time ever going into college. I was learning about God already through my reading of scripture. However, I learned of God much more during my freshman year. I came to know the true gospel. It wasn’t that Jesus came to save the good enough Christians who went to church, volunteered, and read their bibles sometimes; it was that Jesus came to earth to die on the cross for the world and whoever believes in him has eternal life. 

    There were things I believed growing up, and probably even now, that are wrong. I read scripture with the open mind that I am not going to change the Word of God to fit my life, but the Word of God is going to change me so that I could live my life to glorify God in all that I do. I don’t want the thoughts that I have that are wrong to change the message of scripture. I want to learn more about God and allow my thoughts to change understanding that I, as a 20-year-old and a person, don’t know everything. God knows everything, but I don’t know everything. 

    I grew up always wanting to be right in all that I do, and I would get yelled at or punished in other ways if I did anything wrong. I always felt the need to prove myself to others that I am a good person. I have come to learn that just because I might do something wrong or sin doesn’t make me a terrible person. I have learned that my identity is not in my sin, but in the Lord who has saved me from my sins. Being wrong in our thoughts and actions can lead to learning more about God if we allow the Word of God to speak truth. There may be consequences, but doing something wrong doesn’t make someone a bad person. 

    I have come to realize how much in need of the Gospel everyone is. As a freshmen in college, much of my wrong beliefs about God almost lead me away. I saw God as a convenient answer to all my problems. I started to really question “why hasn’t God answered my prayers?” I didn’t realize at the time that my prayer didn’t need to be answered at that moment as much as my heart towards the situation needed to change. In this world full of suffering, we need to be fully reliant on God. It doesn’t mean we won’t endure suffering or challenges. It means that our foundation won’t be shaky when things around us are. The joy of the Lord gives us strength! 

    The truth of the Gospel starts at the beginning where God created the World. He created man and women in his image. Both the man and women were deceived by the devil where they had eaten of the forbidden fruit. After that, they were no longer allowed in the Garden of Eden as they had sinned, and death disease and darkness came over the world. Humans fell out of that perfect relationship with God that was in the garden. God had a plan of deliverance for his children where he came down as a baby named Jesus through a virgen birth to die on the Cross being the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Through Jesus, we have eternal life. This world may be broken, but Jesus will come again establishing a new heaven and new earth. 

    As I have been reading through 2 Timothy this past week, it talks about God’s Word not being chained. In the World, back then and now, people have been imprisoned or killed for their faith. Paul was imprisoned, yet the Word of God has the power beyond human capabilities that tried to stop his word from moving. The Word of God continued to move throughout the world. The Gospel can change anyone’s heart, but no one needs to change who they are to come to God. I have come to God as someone who has a fear of man (people pleasing), as someone who has fallen short so many times.  I have come to realize that I in my own flesh can’t rid myself of the sinful nature that all humans have, but it is the through the Lord where I find righteousness. 

    The Gospel isn’t just for specific people who have completed the perfect Christian checklist. Everyone is in need of Jesus as our Lord and Savior. As it says in the book of Romans, all have fallen short of God’s glory. Everyone has missed the mark. In recognizing that we have fallen short, there should be a safe space for confession in our friendships and our church. This space should not be to condemn the person who sinned, but it should be to lift up our sins and brokenness to Jesus. Jesus looked at sinners with love and forgiveness when he was being crucified. 

    We can’t live like the Gospel is chained because it is not. The Gospel of Jesus is not chained, but is spread with our obedience. Paul was obedient in preaching the Gospel of Jesus, and nothing (not even being in prison) could stop the word of God from spreading across the world. 

    Everyone needs the Gospel because no one is perfect. Jesus gave us a way to eternity with him, but we must choose to go that way. We need to follow after the Lord every day. We need to understand the importance of being the light of the world in showing our love to others. 

John 3:16- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life

2 Timothy 2:9- for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained