God in the ‘Hood, That’s Straight Up G

Central to the Gospel, the Good News message, is that God has come to us.

This is key.

We didn’t make our way to Him (that is the story of every religion—man earning or attaining something higher).

No. It’s quite the opposite.

God came to us.

He is The Hero of the story.

Christianity is not a “pick yourself up by your bootstraps and make something of yourself” philosophy or set of practices.

When we make it that, we become the hero and there is no need for The Hero.

That’s jacked-up.

Rather, Christianity is the story of our weakness, failure, and sin—being met on our home turf by the mind-blowing grace of a loving God.

Humanity became like the ghetto of a broken-down, sin-infested, violent, self-indulgent, lawless neighborhood—where any news coming out of it is always, predictably bad…

Until (The) Good News came.

The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.

—John 1.14 MSG

The “Word” who moved into the ‘hood is Jesus.

The Gospel of John tells us,

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” (John 1.1, 4-5 NLT)

Our Hero has come.

And He brought light…

A light that shines in the darkness, and cannot be extinguished.

God in the ‘hood.

That’s straight up G.

Straight up, pure, unadulterated, beautiful Gospel.

He is present, and at work in the most unlikely of places.

Open your eyes. Take note. Be aware of The Hero—His presence and His work all around you.

Nothing is too far gone for Him—no sin too great a match for His scandalous grace.

Sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end. (Romans 5.20-21 MSG)

This is the Good News, the straight up Gospel.