Those who know me know that I don't bleed blood; instead, I have chocolate flowing through my veins.
I absolutely LOVE chocolate.
And the more chocolate something is, the better.
Why have chocolate chip cookies when you can have chocolate chocolate chip cookies? Why have plain cheesecake when you can have chocolate cheesecake? Why have...
well, you get the idea.
Probably the richest chocolate dessert I ever had was something I had at a fancy restaurant one night in Cancun.
My wife still regrets ordering whatever it was that she had, which wasn't the heavenly chocolate masterpiece souffle I was savoring.
But no chocolate dessert is ever too rich for me to enjoy.
Maybe I have less of it, but I still enjoy every bite to the fullest.
However, I remember having a conversation many years ago with a friend from church about brownies.
She said she needed nuts in her brownies because without them, the chocolate was usually too sweet.
She would rather add nuts to counter off some of the sweetness of the brownie.
I obviously disagreed and may still harbor a little anger at that line of thought.
If I was king of the world, all nuts would be dumped into the ocean, along with green vegetables, turkey burgers, and the Florida Gators.
Chocolate is too sweet? That's absurd to think that toning it down with nuts would make it better.
Isn't that how many of us treat the gospel, though? The Good News that we celebrate is that despite being born into the world with a sinful nature that has no place in God's presence, Jesus the Son of God came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a horrendous death to take away the punishment that we deserve.
And when He rose again on the third day, He assured eternity in heaven for those who place their faith in Him.
The end.
Period.
That's all, folks.
But that's too good to be true, isn't it? It can't be that simple, right? Surely there is more we have to do.
More we have to add to the gospel in order for us to get to heaven.
Wrong.
There is absolutely nothing we can add.
The gospel is complete.
Perfect.
It has absolutely nothing to do with us.
Only God's grace and Jesus' sacrifice.
In a joking reference recently, I told my wife that I am embracing my sinful nature.
But there was some truth to that.
We all should embrace the fact that were it not for our sinful nature, then we wouldn't need God's grace.
And I don't know about you, but I never want to be without God's grace.
If we were capable of living a life without sin, without messing up, then Jesus wouldn't have come.
But we're not, and He did.
What are you adding to the gospel because it just seems too "sweet" as is? Is it your works? Your motivation for going to church? Do you actually think that your number of sins tomorrow needs to be less than those of today? Nothing can make the Good News better.
Embrace your need for God's grace.
Embrace your reliance on Jesus' sacrifice.
Embrace your sinful nature.
I absolutely LOVE chocolate.
And the more chocolate something is, the better.
Why have chocolate chip cookies when you can have chocolate chocolate chip cookies? Why have plain cheesecake when you can have chocolate cheesecake? Why have...
well, you get the idea.
Probably the richest chocolate dessert I ever had was something I had at a fancy restaurant one night in Cancun.
My wife still regrets ordering whatever it was that she had, which wasn't the heavenly chocolate masterpiece souffle I was savoring.
But no chocolate dessert is ever too rich for me to enjoy.
Maybe I have less of it, but I still enjoy every bite to the fullest.
However, I remember having a conversation many years ago with a friend from church about brownies.
She said she needed nuts in her brownies because without them, the chocolate was usually too sweet.
She would rather add nuts to counter off some of the sweetness of the brownie.
I obviously disagreed and may still harbor a little anger at that line of thought.
If I was king of the world, all nuts would be dumped into the ocean, along with green vegetables, turkey burgers, and the Florida Gators.
Chocolate is too sweet? That's absurd to think that toning it down with nuts would make it better.
Isn't that how many of us treat the gospel, though? The Good News that we celebrate is that despite being born into the world with a sinful nature that has no place in God's presence, Jesus the Son of God came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died a horrendous death to take away the punishment that we deserve.
And when He rose again on the third day, He assured eternity in heaven for those who place their faith in Him.
The end.
Period.
That's all, folks.
But that's too good to be true, isn't it? It can't be that simple, right? Surely there is more we have to do.
More we have to add to the gospel in order for us to get to heaven.
Wrong.
There is absolutely nothing we can add.
The gospel is complete.
Perfect.
It has absolutely nothing to do with us.
Only God's grace and Jesus' sacrifice.
In a joking reference recently, I told my wife that I am embracing my sinful nature.
But there was some truth to that.
We all should embrace the fact that were it not for our sinful nature, then we wouldn't need God's grace.
And I don't know about you, but I never want to be without God's grace.
If we were capable of living a life without sin, without messing up, then Jesus wouldn't have come.
But we're not, and He did.
What are you adding to the gospel because it just seems too "sweet" as is? Is it your works? Your motivation for going to church? Do you actually think that your number of sins tomorrow needs to be less than those of today? Nothing can make the Good News better.
Embrace your need for God's grace.
Embrace your reliance on Jesus' sacrifice.
Embrace your sinful nature.
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