It seems like the Gospel can be divided to a large extent into the 3 definitions of Christ that we were given to write these papers on-Christ is the Word of God, meaning that Christ is God, creator and not created, and as such above His creation. Christ is light-nobody can truly come before Him and not see the darkness in his own life. He makes clear to us both God’s standard, and how far short of it we truly are. These facts combined could be considered “the bad news of the Good News”. We have a perfect God who demands perfection…and both we and that perfect God know that we are imperfect! This is where the good news comes in-Christ as the life.
Unlike the other 2 descriptions of Christ that we looked at, acknowledging Christ as the life is an active response, rather than a passive observation. My life need not change due to the fact that Christ is the word of God, and even if I’m brought to my knees by the depth of my failure as revealed through the Light of Christ, it is impossible for me to do any better on my own strength-it is impossible for me to truly be “good” or “godly” apart from Christ. However, in order to acknowledge that Christ is the light, He states that I must be born again into His new life.
This is the part where things get tricky-I know full well that things don’t end well if I live my life alone, but there are certain things I like about my own life better than Christ’s life! When the Titanic started sinking, many of the first lifeboats to launch were only half full-many of the passengers took a good hard look at the luxurious lounge they were in, and the rickety wooden lifeboats, and decided that they would rather stay on the ship. There is a strong application in this story-although the passengers who stayed on the ship died in luxury, they still died! They could only be saved in the lifeboat-giving up the luxuries of the sinking ship in the process. Trading my life for Christ’s is a decision to get in the lifeboat…followed by a lifetime staying in that boat!
19 Sep
