Yearning for the Gospel

Gospel. This is the essential need of every human being. All who respond to the gospel in repentance and faith will have eternal life, which is, Christ Himself. All who are born are born into sin (Psalm 51:5). Because of this, there is need of redemption. Apart from redemption in Christ, one suffers the consequence of eternal damnation. And the beauty of Jesus Christ is that He came into this world to give Himself as Salvation for all who believe in Him. He is the gospel that is for us. He is our salvation and our only way to eternal life. This is the gospel. And we must yearn for Him.

Yearning is to have an earnest or strong desire for something. It is a longing for something that will satisfy completely. This is the word I want to focus on in this particular post because, yearning for the gospel is the most essential spiritual discipline for every Christian. We as Christians know that there is no salvation apart from Jesus Christ. And our salvation is not a mere transaction, instead salvation is our binding with Jesus Christ. Salvation is not a thing that is given to us, in which we then take and hold on to. Salvation is Christ Himself. When we are saved, we are given the life of Jesus Christ to indwell within us as He sanctifies, purifies, cleanses, forgives, leads, communes, and most importantly, loves us. We are brought into the life of Christ as we receive Him as our personal Savior. It is a relationship that is ongoing for eternity, in which Christ makes Himself available to us. He walks through our every step, He nourishes us with Himself, and this is something we must yearn to pursue. We must yearn for our relationship with Christ to be more intimate and loving. We must yearn to give ourselves daily for the sake of Christ Jesus, who is our Lord. We must yearn to seek forgiveness of our sins daily, as we repent and believe that Christ can grant that forgiveness to us by His blood, that was shed on our behalf. Finally, we must yearn for Jesus Christ Himself, who is the giver of life. Gospel yearning is a spiritual discipline that I have been convicted to pursue by the Holy Spirit. I believe that this is a conviction all Christians should have and should pursue. We shall pursue the beauty of our Savior and allow Him to shape us into His beautiful people. Let us yearn for Him and His loving friendship with us. Let us yearn for the gospel.

Let us remember that we can not do or achieve any of these things apart from the grace of God alone. The grace that is offered to us in Jesus Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. The gospel is essential to the unbeliever and believer, as Christ is the nurturing source of our life. To the unbeliever, the gospel brings salvation, which then leads to a life in Christ. To the believer, the gospel continues to save from daily sin and rebellion towards God. The gospel provides the nurturing of faith, hope, and love which is Christ Himself. This is gospel yearning.