The Gospel Is Good
Saturday night I watched American Gospel: Christ Alone. It was just what I needed to melt a weary, work-hardened heart. As my sister Anne reminded me, when we start trying on our own, it is exhausting. But this burden is lifted with a reminder of the Gospel and the right order of loving God not loving my own efforts.
From staff or students in the college community I will sometimes hear, "You're so nice," or "You're such a good person." At first my people-pleasing heart is satisfied, like a solid, sweeping check mark of success. But then I am unsettled.
If people only see a good person, I have failed. The Christian life is not just about being moral, like working diligently and being honest, or not sleeping around on ship. It's not about writing cards or planning little gifts to thank someone or thoughtfully brighten their day. It's not just about hospitality, sharing coffee and good meals.
As the Saturday night film highlighted, if the Gospel is just about being good it pushes us to either pride or despair. Pride because we believe we really are good. Or despair because we more honestly know it is impossible to be good all the time.
And this misses the whole point. The Gospel is not about me. If I am hiding my sin to not look as bad as I am, or if I am pretending to be good to look better than I am, then I am pretending I have no need of Christ, pretending the Gospel is not necessary. But it is.
The Gospel is about Christ being good for me, as in good on my behalf. But let me tell you, the Gospel is also good for me. It is something Christians like me need to be continually reminded of, not just something non-Christians need to hear once.
Christ has done it all for me, and out of that, I love and obey Him. Not the other way around. I do not need to earn, work harder, meet my own expectations, and after that receive the love of Christ. The Gospel is about Christ's work, not mine. Interestingly, this redemption order is seen when God gave the Ten Commandments, even before Christ came to earth. Exodus 20:2 highlights God working salvation, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery," right before launching into what should be our response out of love, "You shall have no other gods before me..." and on down the list of ten.
“My mouth will tell of your righteous acts, of your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone”
So why wait? Let me live out loud, let me not pretend perfection, but let me run from the barren land of my own strength. Let me be renewed there by the good news that Christ is good and Christ has lived the perfect life for me. Yes, I have sin and my sin has consequences, the biggest being spiritual death and separation from God. But Christ has paid for me the cost of all my sins, and believing this, now I can run fully-alive straight to the arms of God.
So if you too are weary, if you have never grasped the Gospel or if you've lost sight of it, ask with me for God to lead back to intimacy with him. He takes our desire, but then he does it on his own strength. And friend, that's good news. I want to live such that Christ is seen, not me. Because he is good, not me. The whole Bible points to him, and so should we.
