Persevere - Unashamed

Some people say that people are basically good at heart, and that talking about sin is harmful and dampens the human spirit. Some people say that hell is a terrifying story made up by religious institutions to scare people. If a good God really did exist, He wouldn’t threaten people with a place like hell. Some people say that heaven is the wishful thinking of religious people who are afraid to accept death as the natural course of life. Some people say that Jesus was a good man and moral teacher, but that it’s nonsense to call him the Son of God or to claim that He rose from the dead.

Some people say … but the Gospel says something totally different. The Gospel is the story of God speaking into human history. It is the story of God sending His Son to rescue us. The Gospel is the real story of what’s going on in the world, and the only answer for the problems in the world.

Every injustice and every tragedy is a reminder that things are not the way God intended. There is something wrong in this world. It is a thing called sin. Sin has polluted our world. Sin separates us from the God who created us and loves us. And sin eventually kills. Yet every sunrise and every sunset is a sign of the majesty of God. That He is still here. That He is still speaking to us. And the message He wants the world to hear is Jesus. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the grand story of the universe. He is the remedy for all that is wrong in this world. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

That is the Gospel, and 2 Timothy challenges us to persevere in the Gospel. Believing the Gospel, living out the Gospel, and sharing the Gospel. And it takes conviction and courage to persevere in the Gospel.