Why we have to get the Gospel right

       We HAVE to get the Gospel right.  What is the "Gospel" that we have to get right?  It is the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord!  The Gospel is Jesus in our place.  The Gospel is Jesus taking on Himself the punishment, death, wrath, and consequences that you and I deserved.  The Gospel is God's grace given to us which is wholly underserved.  That is the Gospel that we have to get right!  We have to get it right because it is the only way by which we can be saved.  We have to get it right because it is the only way that others can be saved.  We have to get it right because in coming to grasp, know, and cherish the Gospel more and more we find the power to live rightly!
        After a person puts their faith in Jesus we are called to live a life that is very much counter cultural.  We are called to live a life that goes against the flow of our culture, and if we are honest goes against our natural tendencies and desires.  Think about some of the crazy demands that Scripture calls us to; deny yourself, forgive everyone, LOVE your enemies, store up your treasure in heaven, take care of the least of these, consider others above yourself, love the hard to love, be content in ALL circumstances, live in a place of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  We could go on for awhile listing the way in which we are called to live as followers of Jesus but that list should be sufficient to remind of us the counter-cultural way we are called to live.  I would argue that our failure to live the way we are called to live is in-part connected with our failure to cheerish, know, and grasp the Gospel.
         Over the course of the next several posts I want to demonstrate how grasping, knowing, and cherishing the Gospel more and more gives us the ability to live out the calling that God has on our lives more and more.  In order to do this we will look specifically at the following in light of the Gospel; forgiveness, loving those who are hard to love, denying self, and living a life of gratitude.  My prayer is that as we journey through these specific examples we will see more clearly than ever before why we need to grasp, cherish, and know the Gospel.