We live in a day and age where you get what you achieve. My entire life has been based on that idea. I worked hard to get my Master of Divinity degree and it felt so good to finally get it last year. I’ve worked hard to get to be able to step out onto a golf course having not played in a long time and still shoot in the 80s. I enjoy experiencing the fruit of a job well done. I’m a huge believer in small and consistent investments over a long period of time yielding massive cumulative results. I think that this way of thinking is productive and helpful but it is a two-edged sword.

You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ is counterintuitive for most if not all of us. Jesus came into the world 2,000 years ago way before I was even a gleam in my mother’s eye. He lived a sinless life, died on the cross and rose from the dead 3 days later. Somehow this event in history has massive implications for each one of us but this can be extremely difficult to grasp.  What this means for me is actually rather simple. It means that because I’ve accepted Christ, God doesn’t see my sins when he sees me. I’m now his son with the same rights and inheritance as Jesus Christ himself. I’ve received unmerited favor and grace because of what someone else achieved. God delights in me not because I’ve knocked it out of the park but because Jesus did.

This does not sit easily with most of us. Our culture says that you get what you achieve and not one ounce more. We understand that system and we live or die by it. That system is not the gospel. Jesus achieved the unthinkable for you because he knew that there (pardon the expression) wasn’t a snowballs’ chance in hell that you could do it on your own. That’s grace. That’s love. That’s….good news!!

How does the counterintuitive gospel sit with you?