Tired of Pretending You Have It Altogether?

I need the gospel of Jesus Christ every day.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16

Do you remember those words Jesus said before His hometown congregation? He didn’t say those words to sinners on the street, though relevant to them. He stood in a synagogue, before people He’d grown up around, and told them they were “blind, crippled, and crazy” (clearly, I’m paraphrasing).

Then He explained why they wouldn’t receive miracles like non-Jews, Naaman and the widow at Zarephath, in the Old Testament.

You don’t receive the miracle of sight if you think you can see. Whose broken heart gets fixed if they’re pretending everything’s okay? When the congregation finally understood that the “fake” and the delusional didn’t receive breakthroughs, they got offended. They became so angry they tried to throw Jesus over a cliff (see Luke 4:16-30).

God’s people tried to toss God, the only Answer, the only Hope for humanity’s need.

I know what it’s like to believe I “have it altogether” in a certain area, then be humbled by embarrassment. I know what it’s like to be angry with Jesus because I need Him for things I think I should do effortlessly. So, I know what it’s like to stay stuck because I’ve forgotten the gospel isn’t just the way to eternal life, it is how I live. The gospel is how I have “life and life more abundantly.”

There’s no shame in depending on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Though it would be a shame to leave any of Jesus’ gracious offer on the table. How unfortunate to pass on any of its benefits, pretending we’re something when, without Him, we’re nothing.

Friend, you are saved by grace. So live by it and enjoy the abundant life Jesus suffered and triumphed to give you. Besides, you’ve got nothing to prove.

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