Christians come in all shapes and sizes. They pursue practically the same diversity of occupations and interests as everyone else. They have political and economic opinions. Most of them spend their working lives balancing budgets, living in suburbia, paying off mortgages, raising kids (or electing not to have them) and generally coping from the cradle to the grave. So how unique are Christians compared to the rest of the world?
Are you low-spirited? Is your mind and heart bogged down by a multitude of issues? Failures, regretful words spoken, deeds you wish you could scrap from your history, wrong decisions you wish you could rethink over again?
The gospel is the message of what God has done for us to redeem us for himself. For us this finds its fullest expression in what God accomplished for us in his Son’s death and resurrection, namely, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Yet this gospel grace existed before Jesus. Immediately after God pronounced the appropriate curses on rebellious Adam and Eve, he promised them a redeemer and sacrificed animals to cover their shame (Genesis 3:15, 21). From the beginning, the gospel has been the same: God does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, that we might belong to him. Our only response is to receive this by faith.
