If you were to randomly choose ten Christians on their way out of church on Sunday and ask them “What did Jesus come to do for you?”, what do you think they would answer?
I bet you a great majority of them would describe how Jesus came to forgive us of our sins so that we can go to heaven, or some variation of that phrase.
Is that true?
Yes, of course... Well, kinda. Limiting Jesus' work to that statement is like having legal title over the Grand Teton National Park, but then decide to spend the rest of your life looking at the books and souvenirs in the visitor center.
Really, if that was all that Jesus came to do, what about now? Am I supposed to just keeping trying to make life work on my own, breaking my back week after week at work just to try to get ahead, hoping that my family doesn't fall apart, until I finally get to retire so I can move to Florida to play golf? All of that while trying to shut down my true desires and double down on discipline hoping I don't blow it?
Why then, did Jesus heal the sick? Why did he set the people free from their oppression? Why did he spend over three years teaching His friends day in and day out a completely new way of life? Why would he care about any of that when he could have just forgiven their sins (which he also did) and simply ask them to wait in their misery until they died?
Because the forgiveness of our sins is only the doorway into the Kingdom. But once we're in, there's a whole new way of life that we get to learn and to explore.
There is restoration. There is healing.
There is glory. There is freedom.
Jesus' invitation is to much more. It is to take a journey with Him, to become His apprentices in Kingdom living. To learn to stop living as orphans and slaves and instead to take our rightful place as sons. To walk intimately with God day by day. To be His intimate allies. To be His friends. To receive our God-given inheritance. To become the glorious men that we were created to be. To become His Wild Sons.
How is that for good news?
And if that is His invitation, what is your answer?
Jesus, my answer is Yes. I do want the full portion of what is available for me in you. I want to experience your friendship, your love. I want to experience healing and restoration. Freedom. Father I want to experience your embrace. I want to learn your true heart as Father. I want to experience your goodness, your relentless love for me. Jesus, you have my consent. Take me on this journey, you have my Yes.