Living in Light of the Gospel

I was recently able to speak to the youth at my church about living in light of the Gospel.  We had recently looked at what the Gospel is, so we, of course, needed to look at how we live in light of the Good News.  I won't write everything I spoke on Wednesday night because I don't want to dictate a half-hour's worth of words.  But I do want to share a few of the ways we live in light of the Gospel.

Here's a look at some of what the Gospel is and how we respond to it.  The Gospel is:

Reconciliation- therefore we are thankful and forgiving

Adoption- therefore we try to please our Father while being completely confident in His unconditional love.

New Lordship- therefore we let Him rule over our lives knowing He will do everything for His glory AND our good.  We are not our own, we were bought with a price.

Renewal of Creation- therefore we live as a new creation, we don't believe the lies Satan tells us about us being the same old men and we are good stewards of creation.

Eternal Life- therefore we are thankful, have confidence and work to know God because as John 17:3 says eternal life is knowing God.

Free Costly Grace- therefore we are disciples.  Our free gift cost Jesus dearly and we respond to that with thankful, willing service.

Living in light of the Gospel does not mean that Christians are people who follow a set of rules.  Living in light of the Gospel is not about conforming to a set of rules, it is about conforming to a person.  We try to be like Dad.  We can't be like Him in all ways or in all fulness, but we strive to be like Him.  He loves, so I love; He forgives, so I forgive; He is merciful, so I am merciful; He loves justice, so I love justice.

The bottom line is that the Gospel is about getting and having God forever.  Living in the light of the Gospel is about experiencing and enjoying God forever.  In heaven we will never be bored of this experiencing and enjoying.  God is infinite so there will always be more to experience, more to enjoy.  We will spend forever being wowed by our awesome God.  But Christians get this... that starts now.  Living in light of the Gospel is experiencing and enjoying God forever and that starts now!

Experience and enjoy God.  That may mean praying, worshipping, being in nature, listening to music, being quiet, being around lots of people, climbing mountains, holding babies, reading deep theology, journaling, etc.  Find what makes your heart enraptured with God and do it.  My wife has some ideas about this to help get you started.

Live in light of the Good News of Jesus.  Experience and enjoy God forever and start that today.