Consequences of the Gospel ...

Wednesday, April 15, 2020. There are sometimes messges which change your actions when you know them. We are influenced about our knowledge about things. Of course this is the case in a direct whay: the knowledge where you get food enables you to go there and get it. But it is also true in an indirect way. When you know that help is near, your ability to endure some difficulty might be strongly pushed up. When you know you have a big amount of money to arrive in some time, your motivation to deal with shortage for some limited time might be lifted up.

The knowledge about something changes our life. It even changes our mind, our reason, our creativity. It is a phenomenon which is well known in sciences. After some problem is solved somewhere, suddenly many solutions pop up. Where does it come from? It seems that the knowledge, that the problem is solvable, increases our insight and innovative capability.

Necessary …

We observe a similar phenomenon with the Gospel. It tells you that by faith you are justified before God. It tells you that his kingdom is coming. It tells us that he will wipe away all our tears, that the suffering in this time does not matter any more when his kingdom has taken over. He tells you and me that he values us, and any other human, highly.

Let us think about the consequences of the Gospel. Let us think about what it means to know that God became human, that he gave up his kingship to become a servant. Let us think what it means that this was the path for him to be exaltet above all. Recall the Gospel as Paul, the apostle, formulated it in his letter to the Philippians:

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2, 5ff)

God is the one who was, and who is, and who will be. He holds the universe. This existence untouched by decay and death enables him to act in a different way than we humans act, strongly influenced by the threats of our life, the need to gain our income to survive, strongly influenced by the fear of death.

Freedom …

In Jesus God became part of his creation. He experienced all the threats. He experienced the challenge. He experienced the difficulties of our existence. Yet, he lived in faith. He knew the love of God. He believed his presence, his power, his help. And he experienced it, seeing Gods help and power in his own life and resurrection.

We are invited to believe in Jesus. We are invited to let him guide our principles, our motives, our will, our desires.

The value which God places in each and every human is large. It is not based on merit, but on his deep love, on his will, on his choice, on his decision and his participation in the creation of each individual. He has formed you as he has formed me.

God is there and wants to be the guiding presence in our life today, tomorrow, every minute. He wants to be the power to keep you upright, just because he values you highly and he wants you to be filled with his deep joy. This will change your view on things. Jesus was able to let many things go - even though he had the RIGHT to have them.

There is a lot of freedom offered to you and to me. It is the freedom to accept his love. It is the freedom to receive the power of his spirit, of his wisdom. It changes our day, our decisions, our words, our actions. It brings joy and peace, it is really true and fantastic. (Roland Potthast)