Have you ever watched someone you love careen down a path that is sure to end in disaster? You want to intervene and change their path, but you feel helpless to do so. It’s as if you are watching a deadly collision about to happen with no way to stop it. That was the human condition before God intervened. When the Apostle Paul said he was not ashamed to boldly proclaim God’s good news, it’s because he knew how bad the bad news was. God had revealed Himself to mankind, yet we chose to rebel sending us full-speed ahead into a collision with His wrath. We were in desperate need of an eternal trajectory change.
Where we were headed:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:18-23
Ever since the fall in the garden of Eden, mankind has been on a downward spiral headed for destruction. Instead of seeking to fill the God-sized hole in our hearts with the One who put it there, we have scrambled and searched for anything else to fill it.
God revealed Himself clearly in the intricacies of Creation, yet we suppressed the truth and replaced it with lies. The smarter we thought we were becoming the more foolish we became. We chose to worship things created by God instead of worshipping the God who created them.
On our own, the trajectory was not looking good. We were not capable of following God’s law. Instead of drawing closer to our Creator, we drifted further and further away.
God’s solution:
We needed a trajectory change. We needed a Savior. Jesus came as God’s special revelation to illuminate God’s Word and reveal His salvation plan. He came to offer hope and a way of escape to a lost and perishing world. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death to pay a debt we owed and could never pay.
Our response:
God did not keep His salvation plan hidden. He revealed it through the gospel message that the Apostle Paul and Christians throughout history have boldly proclaimed. The only right response is to acknowledge our need for a Savior and believe that Jesus is the One.
Jesus changes our eternal trajectory! When we respond to God’s grace and surrender to Jesus, we receive the promise of an eternity in God’s presence, and we begin the process of sanctification as He makes us more and more like Jesus.
This is why we need the gospel and this is why we share the gospel!
Have you surrendered to Jesus and put your faith in Him alone to change your eternal trajectory?
If you are doing life on your own terms hoping to be “good enough,” how will you know if you’ve succeeded? Who are you measuring yourself against? You may do “better” than many but you’ll never do better than all. The only way to know you will be saved is to stop trusting in what you hope to do and trust in what Jesus has already done.
For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. today is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT
