I just finished reading an amazing book called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. Here are two quotes from the book that really spoke to me.
"It is difficult for us to see the gospel as anything other than a list of rules with which a person must agree..... Maybe the gospel of Jesus is all about our relationship with Jesus rather than about ideas... I think it is more safe and more beautiful and more true to believe that when a person dies he will go to be with God because, on earth, he had come to know Him, that he had a relational encounter with God.
There is moral law, to be sure, but moral law is not our path to heaven; our duty involves knowing and being known by Christ.... What we need here truly, is faith in a Being, not a list of ideas."
I've realized lately that the gospel really is all about Jesus. I mean, what is written in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Stories about Jesus. Stories about how Jesus loved people, forgave people, related to people. In the gospels of Scripture, you will not find anything like a gospel pamphlet that you might hand out; you will not find a list of ideas/rules that need to be believed in order to be saved. In the gospels of Scripture, you will find a story about a God who came to earth as a man named Jesus for the purpose of revealing to us what He is truly like and to make a way for us to be in a relationship with Him, to get to know us. It definitely is good news!
"If you can imagine the greatest love of your life, multiplied by millions, speaking affirmation into your soul, you will have in your mind the awareness of Christ and the community of the Trinity. All the self-awareness that occurred in Christ's absence will dissolve as Christ's love tells us who we are. In His presence we will not hate ourselves, second-guess ourselves, or compare ourselves to others; but rather, our lives will be filled with the gratitude of His presence, and we will know for the first time the glory of being human."
Christ's love tells us who we are. Without Christ's love, we look to other people and things of this world to figure out who we are. But with Christ's love, we know that we are His treasured possession, His beloved children, His cherished creation.
Dear reader, do you know that God loves you? Really and truly, do you believe it? Think about this: God knows you. He knows your struggles, your sorrows, your mistakes, your thoughts, your desires, your fears, and every single detail about you. And yet He still loves you, unconditionally right where you are at this moment. You can come to God just as you are. You do not have to "fix yourself" in order to come to Him. His loving arms are open wide to you, and He wants you. He wants to shower His love on you, pour out His blessings on you, and be your Father. Will you let Him?
Zephaniah 3:17
"The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
God delights in you, dear reader! He is blown away by how amazing you are! You have eternal value, because God created you and knows you and loves you. And nothing can ever take that away from you.
You are loved!
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