In 1st Corinthians 15, The Apostle Paul, says the Gospel is “of first importance.” This infers there are varying degrees of importance to biblical topics. What does he say is most important? Is it tongues? Is it gifts? Is it tithing? Is it how to dress? No, he simply says it’s the Gospel! These things are good, and can be debated, but only the good news of Jesus is of first importance. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, he infers are supposed to be at the center of our lives for utmost joy and intimacy with our Creator. Is it for you? Below are some penetrating questions for self-examination. Let us continue to fall on our knees and rely not on our own behavior, but His saving work on the Cross. As Tim Keller says, “The Gospel is not the ABC’s of the Christian faith, it is the A-Z.” You want more intimacy with God? Push into the Gospel. You struggle with sin? Push into the Gospel. You desire more of Jesus? Push into the Gospel. There is freedom to struggle at the foot of the Cross.
—When you sin or fall where do you run? If you are really believing the gospel you’ll run to Him, but if you trust in yourself, then when you mess up you’ll clean yourself up for a few days and then come back to him as if you somehow are worthy now. He makes us clean, not our behavior.
(1st john 1:9, Psalm 32:5, Proverbs 28:13)
—What does your Christian walk produce, pride/despair or joy? If you are really believing the gospel you will have humble confident joy (because it doesn’t depend on you it depends on Him), but if you believe in yourself you will either be prideful or in despair (prideful because you made a moral behavior code and kept it and so you are “better than those people” or you made a list and can’t keep it and are living in an endless cycle of despair thinking you’re not “good enough.” Only Jesus can rescue you from boasting in yourself or wallowing in your failure.)
(Romans 15:13, Galatians 5:22-23)
—What do you think of others? If you really believe the gospel you will see others above yourself, but if believe in yourself you will put yourself above others. Notice that the disciples fought over the throne, but we should fight over the towel (What Jesus washed their feet with after showing them that to be a leader you first must be a servant).
(Philippians 2:3-11, John 13:1-17)
—How do you view other’s problems? If you really believe the gospel you will love people and have compassion on them, but if you believe in yourself you will have no compassion, you’ll passover people’s needs, and be like the false religious person in the “Good Samaritan” story.
(1st John 4:20)
–Do you think you can lose your salvation? If you really believe the gospel you will have a proper understanding of justification (made right with God forever) and sanctification (growing to be more like Him), but if you trust in yourself you will confuse them and begin to think you are central to your salvation. God makes the promise in Jeremiah 32:40 that those under the New Covenant (the ones who have trusted in Jesus) He will never cease doing good to. That has nothing to do with your behavior. Because Jesus absorbed all the wrath for the elect, you only get mercy. His uncaged grace is dangerous, but it’s life-giving. We are made right, and then we grow, not try to grow and then we will be made right. The question isn’t “Can I lose my salvation?” The question is “can God lose me?” which He can’t.
(Romans 5:1, Gal 2:16, Romans 8:30, Romans 5:20, Jeremiah 32:40, Hebrews 8:10)
—Where do you look on a daily basis? If you really believe in the gospel you will continue to fix your eyes on Jesus, but if you trust in yourself you will continue to look to yourself and inner thoughts/feelings to give you right standing with God. Our standing with God is solely external. Our feelings are feeble, but He is not.
(John 3:14-15, Numbers 21:1-4, Hebrews 12:1-2)
—What can be taken from you that’d be the most devastating? What would most rock you to the core if it failed, broke, or was taken from you? If you really believe the gospel, God should be the answer, but if you believe in yourself then other things are the answer. This is a lifelong battle, but we must continue to strive daily to worship the Creator, not the creation. The minute you put God’s things above God, you’ve strayed from the gospel.
(Matthew 7:24-27, Psalm 73:25-26)
—Does your Christianity affect everything or just your Sunday afternoons? If you really believe the gospel it will affect every facet of your life and there will be no divide between secular or sacred, but if you are believing in yourself then Jesus will be compartmentalized, merely a section of the pie. Jesus invades all of our life, Religion just invades our Sundays.
(Colossians 3:17, 1st Cor 10:31)
So, is the gospel affecting your daily life? Are you living in light of His death, burial, and resurrection? The common theme in the above questions is self vs. Jesus. The easiest way to decipher is ask, “Who gets the glory from this? Who is on display? Who is made much of? Me or Him?” Let’s strive to answer those questions with Him! Our joy and His glory are at stake, and they are inseparable from each other. We give Him the glory, we get the joy. Also, If I can be honest I have to admit within the last week I have failed every single question asked above. I don’t trust Him, I trust myself. I don’t look to Him, I look to myself. I don’t love Him, I love myself. But, that is the the center of the gospel and the beauty of His grace that while we were messy, dirty, guilty, and sinful He saw it as His joy to come die for us (Romans 5:8, Hebrews 12:2). Grace like that is what explodes in a heart and woo’s you to Him. He is drawing you by His love, and through that love and grace you can begin to walk in the gospel. Slowly, but surely.
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
-Titus 3:4-7
Cool.
Well, if I’m answering honestly He is not first. I am new to Christianity and look forward to putting God first. But the one question that I’m not sure would change was the ” What can be taken from you that’d be the most devastating? What would most rock you to the core if it failed, broke, or was taken from you?” To answer that question, it would be my son…I know God should be my everything but my son is too. So, where or how is that line drawn? I know that trusting and following God will give me a better relationship with my son also, but right now, in my mind I couldn’t imagine losing my son.
I am a neonatal RN, I care for fragile and premature infants daily and because of this I see various paths of parental faith. I have held the hand of mothers that have only held their child for moments as it was died. I believe to answer this you have to ask yourself if your son was taken from you due to an unforseen illness or tragedy, where would you find comfort? Would you find comfort in the time you were given, the blessing you held, and faith in our Father to hold you and get you through or would you find comfort in the dirt of the grave?
Kat…I think (okay, I KNOW) that every believer has been there. Not just when we did not know God, but after we came to Jesus. God’s heart is righteous and can overcome anything. Pray to God to give you His heart…and to reveal the mysteries of Christ to you so that you may know Him fully. Every single day, all of us fall short of the righteousness of God. All of us try to be what we should be. We shouldn’t be doing this. Instead we should be in prayer for God to do these things in us! Thanksgiving and all praise belong to Jesus for making us to be sinless in the sight of God! If you strive in prayer to be put to death in your flesh so that Christ can live in you, God WILL be faithful to answer that prayer and create the new woman in Christ that He has called you to be!
those feelings are a reminder of what was given to us freely…His ONLY son…to be hung on that cross for us sinful people…
Kat,
God loves you and accepts you exactly where you are. You’re perfect in his eyes. He knows your heart. Never try to change who you are or how you feel. Allow God to teach you along the way. Don’t question your heart. He knows how we feel about our children, look at how he feels about us.
good question Kat!! In my own life I know that the hardest things in that question (girlfriend, mom, spouse, son, etc) is that we thing God is looking to hurt us. But the reality is when we give up our heart and surrender everything with an open hand it actually makes those relationships better. It is totally ok to draw life, happiness, and satisfaction from other people, but Jesus has to be the ultimate, because He is the only thing that can’t be taken from us. Hope that helps!
Ps continue to rest in grace. He loves us, and pursues us, and wants nothing but joy for us, its just sometimes to give us joy he has to bring us pain. But it is worth it in the end. He is worth it.
Hey Kat!
I have known Christ for about two years now, and what an awesome life to lead in Christ 
I know it may seem hard to give up things and God is not saying to give up your son but more as lead your son in a Godly life-style teaching him the word and ect. maybe you need to dedicate your son to God you can do it in the church or in your own home maybe give your son back to God(not in a literal sense) pray to God and let Him know that you know that your son is a gift from God and that God loaned him to you to mold him into a Godly man.. it will help you to come to conclusions that this life isn’t about us it’s about, Him, God. and how we can glorify his name and bring people to know the grat joy that we have. I hope that answers your question!!!!! God bless 
Fail. But at least I know it. I guess that is a starting point. Thanks Jeff for spreading the good news the way it should be done, with enthusiasm and heart.
Ok so I’m not technically a new Christian, because I have been babtised twice before and attended the whole religious lifestyle before. But I recently went through a motorcycle accident where they told my mother, they had contacted the organ doner foundation, cuz there’s a half a percent chance your son will make it, and then after so many other things like he might not wake up from the coma & never be able to feed himself. so anyways after all this and not being handicapt, I woke up and the only girl I loved was right there and somehow baptized, it was crazy. So now I’m home finding out all sorts of stuff like my whole church was praying for me the guy that saved my life, the paramedic that just so happened to be eating across the street from where the lady pulled out in front of me, and ran and saved my life, when I thanked him from the bottom of my heart, pointed up and said don’t thank me pointed up and said thank him, for placing me there So I just want to tell you things like this show and remind us daily what’s supposed to be on our mind. You show us how to reach the main and supposed to be our most important goal in life. Your one of those peps that will be wearing a crown in heaven bro
All of this is spot on!! Thanks for posting this! Super helpful! Stay blessed!
Awesome post! I too am just a child in Christ, coming up to my one year on this coming Easter Sunday ( I’m very excited and very much proud to say that I am a child of God. But I have a question, when I have sinned or done something wrong, I don’t ALWAYS turn to God right away for help, but than I do shortly after, or after the matter is already done. Is that bad? That I don’t always turn straight to God? Sometimes when it’s all done, I kick myself because I think if j had just turned to God, things would’ve been a lot better or would’ve been more bearable… Of that makes sense… I would appreciate any input! God bless everyone!
It is so refreshing to see others out there with the same view points on Christ, the truth, as what our church has had. I was raised Lutheran, went through Confirmation, and never really “heard” the gospel like this until I started attending my current church two years ago. I found so much joy living in this free gift of grace, and couldn’t understand why more churches were busy interpreting and interpreting the gospel until it was so convoluted it was really not the gospel at all anymore. I am so joyful to find others, on here and other social media sites, that are preaching the gospel of our Lord and Savior, and helping people see the truth and walk in the light! Keep on doing what you were called to do brother. The best part of all this to me, is your honesty with yourself. You see the flaws you still have in yourself, and do not try to portray to your readers that you are perfect. Lots of those spreading the word still portray themselves as someone better than their congregation, someone they should look up to, when in fact they should be looking to Christ. You speak the truth that we all still have sin, we’re not perfect, yet we are loved by God, and through grace, he sees his Son when he looks at us. God Bless.
Just wanted to say that religion isn’t meant to be “only invading our Sundays” religion is way your live your life (which we should be living for Jesus), false religion it the one only invading our Sundays. Having said that, great article
Thank you for this 
…. we all fall short ….. not one amongst us is righteous …. but is sure is good to re-examine ourselves in light of HIS Word …. Shalom