New Zealand - Good News

"Who was the first person to receive the gospel?"

This thought came crashing through my mind in the middle of our worship time this morning.  We've been practicing hearing God's voice this week, and (sensing that He may want to speak something to  me) I followed the train of thought.

"I don't know God, what do you want to show me?"

We as sincere followers of Jesus Christ enjoy the benefits of the new covenant He payed for with His life; it's accessible to us any time we choose to focus on (and receive) the truth.  Forgiveness, release of shame and guilt, loving adoption as sons, fellowship with His spirit, and grace that empowers us to change all lie at the fingertips of our hearts and minds.  His gospel stops us from running in circles in the dark, gratifying our own desires, yet never being satisfied.  It gives us an anchor, a light, and a hope to walk toward.

As an admission, I often focus instead on trying to manage my bad behaviors, sin, and selfishness in an effort to be worthy of this blessing, but how do we really receive this covenant?
Romans 10:9 says that all we do is declare Jesus to be Lord, and we believe that God raised him from the dead.

Who was the first participant to drink of this beautiful new covenant?  As I considered this a picture of the thief on the cross next to Jesus sprang to my mind.  This man accepted that he had lived a life apart from God, and deserved his sentence of death.  This man expressed that he believed Jesus would live to "come into" his kingdom.  This man died shortly after Jesus (they broke his legs to speed up the process, but found that Jesus had already died).


And I thought of the beauty of it all...

If you are a God who wants to put an exclamation point on the fact that salvation is 100% a gift of grace that no man can earn, who do you pick as the first child of your new covenant: A thief, a man who squandered his inheritance, condemned to death by the world, unable to do anything whatsoever to serve you or earn your love, with just hours to live.  Broken.  Beaten.  Hopeless.

A heart that cries "We deserve this condemnation and death but you do not...  Jesus, remember me when you enter into your kingdom."

And the Son of God, who leaves the 99 sheep to find the one who is lost replies "I'll do more than that... I will see you there today."


This is the power of the gospel, this is why it's called "good news", because the moment at which we have nothing to offer him is the moment when He offers us everything.  The day we realize that we have no strength to change our sin and darkness, and come to Him in humble faith...  This is the day that everything changes.


God, may I spend less time trying to deserve your mercy, and more time standing in AWE that you give us mercy at all!  Restore to us, your people, the joy of your salvation!