We’ve turned salvation into just a prayer. -Phil Moreino
The Gospel. It’s the good news. It’s a six letter word that changes everything. It’s salvation and justification. Sanctification. Grace. Mercy. Consecration. Hope. Love. Life. It’s a concept simple enough to be understood by a child and complex enough to be planned and appreciated by the Creator of the universe. It can be received in a instant but takes more than a lifetime to fully comprehend.
It’s for all those who ask. The rich and the poor. The powerful and weak. The fearful and the brave.
It’s for me and it’s for you.
It’s the story of love. Of a God who loved this world so much that He sent His only son so that we could have a way to heaven, but it’s more than that.
It’s the story of separation. Of the same God forced to break relationship with the man and woman He created in His image.
It’s the story of pride. Of the prize creation’s pride and rebellion against his Creator.
It’s the story of waiting. Of a world, a nation, waiting for the promise of a Messiah.
It’s the story of a hero. Of the Hero. Of the Son of God abandoning His heavenly home to enter into our earthly, ugly world.
It’s the story of the supernatural. Of healing. Of blind eyes seeing, deaf ears hearing. Dead hearts beating once again.
It’s the story of betrayal. Of a man blinded by greed and turning on a Friend, a Mentor. Someone innocent and clean.
It’s the story of rejection. Of the world spurning their Savior and hope.
It’s the story of death. Of a Spotless Lamb willingly laying down His life on the Cross of Calvary.
It’s the story of pain. Of three long days grieving and weeping. Mourning as the Savior bore the pain and fought death, hell and the grave.
It’s the story of victory. Of the triumphant resurrection day of the Savior that not only bore our sins, but justified us by His righteousness.
It’s the story of power. Of the Holy Spirit who promises to give us the power to live victoriously everyday.
It’s the story of LIFE. Of a Savior whose short, earthly life gave us hope for eternal life.
This is the Gospel. It is beautiful and ugly. It is pain and joy. It is the plan of the Creator from the beginning.
And, as my dad said, we want to reduce that to a simple prayer?
It’s so much more than that. Yes, salvation is that moment in time when we recognize our need of Savior and come before the throne of grace and find that we can be clean because of Him.
But it is so much more than that. The Gospel is not a one time moment of victory. It is a daily call to follow Christ. It is a restoration of the relationship with God that was lost so long ago in the Garden, not because we are holy, but because He is and He clothes us in His righteousness.
It is a change. In lifestyle? yes. In morals? sure. In heart? Absolutely.
It’s a shift from a world that revolves around me, to a life that revolves around Him.
When we tell people that all they have to do is ask Jesus into their heart and life will be good, we do them a severe injustice.
Do I want them to receive Christ? Yes. Absolutely. No doubt.
But more than that I want them to relinquish their lives to Christ. I want to see them live in fellowship with their Creator. I want to see Christians. Not the “Christian” of today’s society that claims allegiance to God in order to improve their social standing. No, what if we became like the Christians of the first century. Men and women determined to serve Christ no matter the sacrifice. Christians less concerned with the opinions of men and more concerned with bringing glory to Christ. People whose actions of their everyday lives were a direct result of their salvation. People who had hope, despite their present circumstances. People who were joyful in the middle of trials. People who boldly proclaimed His truth. People who changed the world for the Kingdom’s sake. People surrendered to their Savior.
Is this the Gospel?
A Peace of My Mind 