The Simplicity Of The Gospel

   While scanning a bit of the opinion~page of our local paper in Lexington, Kentucky, I came across one particular letter from a surgeon who responded to an earlier post by a columnist on the gospel message of the bible.This man's response was precise, clear and very positive! I was pleasantly surprised by the letter.

   From the beginning of his response, the surgeon was kind and precise in his words as he refuted what the earlier article attempted to say, exclaiming that the gospel was simple but hard to obey. Anyone who has heard a clear message of the gospel of Jesus Christ has realized the simplicity of its message and that, by faith, they can trust what Jesus did to bring salvation to them and thereby live for him.

   There is an old saying which states that, "anything worth doing is worth the effort to get it done"! That is exactly the message of the gospel, that God thinks of us as worthy to receive a pardon for our sins and because of that he sent his only son to pay the debt we owed. By the way, we are unable to pay that sin~debt through our own efforts (work).

   In the case of anyone hearing the gospel message, there is the freedom of choice. We can accept or reject it! That in itself is a pretty simple truth! We are not robots, controlled by a heavenly `puppet~master`pulling our strings in order to entertain him. He loves each of us with such compassion and kindness that it's almost incomprehensible for us to grab a hold of.

   Much of what the original letter stated was that the gospel comes with commandments to follow in order to be able to live it. As the surgeon put it, and I agree with him, this is not true at all! Simplicity is the key to this message, the "good news", as it is known. I believe the author of the original article is confusing the gospel with the ten commandments shown in the old testament, in the book of the Exodus.

   Certainly the true followers of Jesus Christ give strong effort in trying to obey his commandments, but this is not in addition to salvation, it is because of it. Jesus said, "if you love me, keep my commandments." He did not say this was in order for us to be saved. It's the fruit of our salvation, not to gain it! We tend to make things hard, not simple. It's a real good thing that none of us is God!

   Finally, I would like to add that, if you are reading this and have never trusted Jesus to forgive you and save you, do it today. Don't waste any more time because the truth is, you may not have it. Be the next one who steps out by faith and accepts this simple message of love from an awesome God! He really does love you as you are, ya know!