Devotional May 8 2020How do we address fear through faith? …by knowing the Gospel as the most important thing.
The Gospel message is more relevant now than ever, and it is even more important than ever to have a clear understanding of the wonderful truth we find in the Bible. With the theology of the Gospel we can address the challenges we face and better understand the most pressing questions of life in a fallen world.
The Apostle Paul writes these words about the significance of the Gospel.
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
Being made in God’s image ascribes to us a tremendous value over and above all creation. We see this in the beginning of the Bible. There was a different process involved in our creation, and the Bible reveals the great care in the forming of the first human and a different level of relation to God.
God created us to be with Him. However, after sin entered the world our relationship was broken and the closeness and authenticity was replaced with guilt and shame. There is nothing we can do to restore the relationship because God’s holiness required penalty for sin that we are helpless to satisfy. However because of His love for us, God made a way for us to be reconciled.
God substituted Jesus, who was the perfect offering, to pay the penalty for sin. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we are able to stand before the Lord with the debt of sin paid for by the righteousness of God. The Bible confirms that this happened; Jesus was buried and raised on the third day. The Bible also says that if we trust in Jesus as the sacrifice for our past, present and future sins, we are forgiven.
Why is the Gospel a matter of first importance? …Our eternity hinges on our response to this information.
So how does the Gospel address the fear we are confronted with today? The flood of information available to us makes it more challenging to know what is truly important. As followers of Christ, the Gospel is the most important piece of information. The Gospel gives us a new perspective to address the challenges in the world.
When we are afraid, we can be sure that God cares tremendously for us. Our worth is not determined by the things of this world, but by the Gospel. We are so valuable to Him that He sacrificed His own Son for us. We can rest in who we truly are and our relationship to God. When we understandably fear death from COVID-19, the Gospel shows us that to die is to have life eternal with Jesus.
“I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26
When the afflictions come upon us due to the pandemic, we can know and trust that God will use it all for our good. We can battle our fears by making the Gospel the most important thing in our lives, and allowing it to change our perspective.
Are we living like the Gospel is the most important piece of information we have? My prayer is that our lives demonstrate it. Let’s prioritize our relationship with Jesus, and ask Him to help us grow in attaining a better understanding of the Gospel.