Good News!

Something new is happening to me. My chest has this weird, bubbly, warm feeling. It's almost like the functioning of my organs is creating too much friction. My hands dance, unable to stay still. My limbs twitch with restlessness. My voice sounds somehow quieter than before, my gaze more gentle as though my very features have softened.

I am a new creation--completely enraptured by the Holy Spirit. For the first time, I have reached an understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel (synonymous with the Good News) is that I am a filthy sinner. I deserve death for the evil that resides within my deepest soul. I am inescapably soiled. Worse still, I am trapped by the ultimate claustrophobia found within the realization that every one who has ever walked this earth is in the same boat. Well... all except for one.

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life in the face of unimaginably, inescapably difficult circumstances. He was slaughtered in a gruesome and public manner, rejected by the world, and isolated by God. Christ cried out and asked that the cup of this horrific murder could be passed from him -- but God denied him. The son of man obeyed, desiring God's will to be done over his own.

As Jesus hung on the cross, God turned His back from him. This was so in order that God would never have to turn his back on me. In that moment, my punishment was lifted. The wrath of God was taken out on the sweet Jesus 2,000 years ago instead of me.

My heart is prone to wander. I turn my back on the perfect lamb's sacrifice and turn to my own selfish desires. Yet God promises that His mercies for me are NEW every morning. This is grace. And as sin increases, so does the grace increase also.

Now, I am changed from the inside out by a part of God living within me-- the Holy Spirit. My desires do a 180 and I am left with utter delight in my gentle Savior. I long to pray because when my eyes are closed, the creator of the universe listens to my heart. I read scripture because God has written me this very intimate letter meant personally for me to understand the purpose of life. I serve others because I can't help it. I so desperately want them to understand the Gospel. I want them to feel deep joy rooted to their very core. Sin calls to me, but by the grace of God I am not seduced.

I am a NEW creation, no longer bound to sin but free from condemnation. I am a child of God - an heir to His kingdom. I am a saint. I am free of the oppression of American society because I am simply a momentary visitor to the world. A sojourner. There is a room waiting for me in Heaven, where I shall live for all of time.

I will not taste death. Judgement and ridicule from people in my life rolls off my back because I am free to dwell within the love of Yahweh. I no longer have to shout and fight to prove that I am worthy of affirmation, because I am eternally affirmed through my identity in Christ.

The best part is that I could study this phenomenon of the Good News every single day for the rest of my life and would never have scratched the surface. I am indescribably humbled and more grateful than words could ever express.

It makes my chest have this weird, bubbly, warm feeling.