The Bullet of Reckoning: Tough on Love
But back to our first question, “Is the Good News of Jesus Christ more negative or positive?” Really it’s some of both, for one has to know there’s “bad news” before “Good News” can be good. My contention is that honest people know there is something wrong with them that needs spiritual fixing. They are not looking for problems but for answers. A dishonest person lies to himself and is condemned to a life of problems.
The Gospel is the greatest positive force on earth. For the person who is quick to admit need and the “creature-dependent” status of human life the “Good News” of Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible source of power, truth and love.
Here is an illustration: One of our men was talking to a woman sometime ago about spiritual things. When he mentioned our church, she lit into him on the hypocrites she knew who were members. She named mistakes, remembered failures and condemned attitudes. She then moved to the sins of the church in general and preachers in particular. (Incidentally, I wouldn’t deny many of these charges.) Finally after listening to all this for several minutes my friend politely broke in on her triad and said, “Lady, if you’ll excuse me, you seem to know more about what’s wrong with people than what’s right with God!”
What a fantastic response and what a great definition of the Gospel! A person doesn’t improve his or her life by studying the mistakes of others but by becoming an expert on the performance of Christ. Knowing “the truth” about what’s wrong is worthless unless you are pursuing “the Truth” about what’s right! The sooner we realize this the quicker we will embrace maturity.
So we’ve come full circle. Those who are seeking truth know their sins and need to know the love of God as the answer! Those who are not seeking truth will not be satisfied with any answer … positive or negative!
Soft on sin? No, just label me “tough on love!” Christ didn’t come to condemn people in their sin but to save them from it! (John 3:17). That’s about as positive as you can get!
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