You came out of the womb reciting John 3:16.
Your Bible contains highlighted and underlined passages, and your margins are filled with detailed notes.
You worship with your eyes closed because you already know every word to every song.
Your prayers contain theologically profound words such as propitiation and reconciliation.
On paper, your faith is thriving.
Yet, you’re tormented, broken, and lost.
You don’t know where to turn to find some wisdom or insight to get to the root of your helplessness, but the problem is not that you don’t know enough. The problem is that you’re numb.
I was numb.
The same verses, stories, and songs proclaiming the goodness and love of God that once captivated me felt like empty words.
I was losing faith because I was trying to do so much.
I was so caught up in learning more, memorizing more, trying to make myself so knowledgeable that I forgot the simplicity of the Gospel.
I know that Jesus died on the cross for me and then rose again so that I may have eternal life with Him, but I began to diminish the power, the love, the radicalness, the scandal of God’s grace.
You may know what Jesus did for you, but do you understand the severity of what He did?
We’re all sinners. No matter how “good” we may be, we are still sinners deserving of eternal separation from God. But God loves us so much that He paved a way for us to be redeemed of our sins and declared righteous and heirs to heaven. That way is Jesus.
Jesus is God, yet He humbled Himself by taking on flesh. He endured trials and temptations and lived a perfect life, but He was accused, charged, and convicted of being a criminal. His innocent shoulders bore the weight of our sin, and when He breathed His final breath on that cross, our sin died with Him.
But that’s not the end of the story because three days later, He rose from the grave defeating the power of sin and death forever. Whoever believes in Him and surrenders to Him has eternal life.
This is the Gospel.
And I do not care if this is the millionth time you have heard the Gospel because we need to constantly remind ourselves of God’s demonstration of His love for us, that He would save us when we were dead in our sin.
Every time we think about Jesus, it should stir an emotional whirlwind of awe and wonder, hope and joy, peace and purpose.
If you’re numb, if you’re tired of hearing the same old verses, stories, and songs, remind yourself of Jesus on the cross and truly what that He did for you.
His love for us is the source of our life.
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” -1 Corinthians 2:2 (ESV)
