Hey Precious Friend. It’s a wonderful Friday and I’m glad you are here to read today’s post. I believe you will be blessed today. Don’t forget to share when you are blessed.
You must be wondering why today’s topic is “The God-centered Gospel” and not what we know and what we are used to which is “The Christ-centered Gospel”. Don’t worry, I’m not teaching heresy… God doesn’t refer to the Father alone, Jesus Christ is God too. You will see that the bible from start to finish is about God; Father, Son and Spirit (not arranged in any deliberate order).
Now, Let’s journey…
John 3:16 (KJV)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Having begun by faith, sometimes we forget how we were before we were brought in to inherit eternal life. Sometimes we forget how hopeless we were. The Bible refers to it as being dead in sin. The Bible also refers to it as being “once darkness”. Many times we forget this… We forget that we never “ascended to heaven; that is to bring Christ down” neither did we “descend to the deep; that is to bring up Christ again from the dead”.
You must be wondering “Rowland, what’s happening? What are you talking about?”
Well, you see, we often live our lives as Christians as though we initiated the whole process of redemption and salvation and adoption. We live as though we prayed the idea of a saviour and redeemer into the heart of God. We go about as if we did something to bag this “qualification” called eternal life (as if it were a qualification). We forget that we were unable to perceive the things of light… There was absolutely no desire in us to please God neither was there an ability to… The psalmist says God looked down to see if there was any who sought Him but he found none. All had turned to his own way.
Except for the law, we wouldn’t even know what sin was, but God awakened us to it by His law which was righteous.
Listen to this, Your consciousness of something being evil doesn’t make you a good person. “Only God is good”, Jesus said.
The awakening of conscience was a blessing indeed to man. Then was the awakening from death, the translating from darkness to light. If God hadn’t put himself at the centre of everything, we would have no hope.
Let me say that again… If God didn’t make it all about Him, we would have no hope… No glimpse into light.
For God loved, so much, the world.
This is why I titled this post the God-centered Gospel. It is all about God. We must be aware that He called me because of His love not because I had better chances of being a good person. No!!!
Recently, some thoughts were going through my mind and I came to the realisation of the truth that the same grace it takes God to save a man who grew up in the church and Christian home but never believed, is the same grace He requires to save a man who grew up in a clubhouse, drug house or shrine and practised all forms of Shamanism and became and did the worst things you can think of. Why is this? It’s really simple, it is because despite their different backgrounds and environments, they are both dead and are both darkness… Despite their training and culture, death and darkness reigns in them.
You are not saved because you passed some exam, not because you were able to fulfil some parts of the law.
To put it straight my friend, grace has nothing to do with you but has everything to do to you. The grace that has brought salvation to you is out of the benevolent love and kindness of God.
I’m not just talking about the origin of it, I speak also of its very essence. The very essence of salvation is God… The glorification of God. This is true.
It is selfishly and, in some cases, erroneously believed that God has saved us for the purpose of having a comfortable life, abounding in all material possession and never to die again or to die only to go to a place that has even more abundant wealth.
Listen to this, the origin, the method and the essence of salvation is God.
God didn’t send a Saviour for your desires but for your good which is His glory.
What is good for you is the glorification of God…let me say it again… “What is good for you is to see God glorified”… That is men will see what God has done in you (by his grace) and glorify Him.
It was by His love… His love looks beyond just the present convenience and comfort to achieve an eternal goal.
I wish that you and I looked beyond ourselves and focused on what God is doing in us which is glorifying himself…just like He did in Christ Jesus.
On that note, In very few words, let’s move to the second phase of this post, let me tell you something about the nature of this love of God.
His love has a nature of faithfulness. His love is faithful from the beginning to the end. This is the reason we have the same confidence as in Philippians 1:6
Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
WE ARE CONFIDENT.
It’s all about Him. It’s all about His glory. The psalmist said in Psalm 23 that He leads us in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.
For His name’s sake. Hallelujah!!!
This is the confidence that we have… It’s not because of me but for His own sake and it pleases me.
Can you by faith begin to focus on how God is being glorified in you. Rest in His work in your life. Rest, confident that He will bring it to completion.
Give glory to God and tell Him to teach you to truly believe in Him and believe Him. Amen.
Thank you for joining me this week on Ancient word.
Don’t forget to drop a comment, like and share. God bless you.
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