The Gospel is not a transaction.
All my life growing up in the Assemblies of God fellowship, I heard that Jesus paid the debt for my sins, thus redeeming me — and once I had asked for forgiveness of sins, my job was to go and sin no more.
Grateful as I was for this redemption, I came to realize that it placed the power of salvation in my hands. I had to keep up my end of the bargain.
What I have discovered as an adult and through an intimate relationship with Christ is: the Good News never was a transaction. There wasn’t a “Jesus part” and a “Jax part,” no bargain, no debt redemption.
Because God is our Father, Jesus is our brother. You don’t make bargains with your family. You love them. You make bargains with the hired help. Your family you accept, you cherish.
Jesus’ death and resurrection were the sacraments, the signs, of the love He had lavished on my from the foundation of the world. They were the visual cues of a salvation He had already provided before either of us were born.
My “part,” if I can said to be have a part, is to believe, to trust, that He loves me, and to let that love have the run of the house.
If you’re still trying to relate to a God who “paid a debt” for you, by giving back to Him what you think is His and doing your job of righteous living and sharing the Gospel (or whatever it is you think your “job” is for God), why not give this some thought?
There was no transaction necessary between you and your beloved Father. He had you covered already.
