“The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
There it is. Smack in front of us, yet many of us miss it. It’s really a big problem, even if we can’t see it. It causes us to look for answers and solutions where they can’t be found. It leaves us feeling frustrated and empty. It can make us passive and cynical. It causes us to lose sight of who we really are.
So what is it? It – is a big hole. A hole that represents a lack of understanding what the gospel is really all about. We have a good understanding of when the gospel entered into our lives – 40, 20, 10 years ago, or maybe we calculate by months. That is the point in our lives when we placed our faith in Jesus Christ and our journey of salvation began. We know we have received forgiveness, and are very grateful for that truth. We also know we are promised a future with God in a place of eternal perfection. But the hole we somehow miss is the lack of understanding that we have God’s grace here and now. Jesus didn’t just die for our past and future. He died for our here and now.
The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” He was not talking about a future life where we will walk on streets of gold, where we will open gates of pearl, and where there will be no more tears, or pain, and sorrow. Paul is talking about life here and now – the 21st century. Here, where we walk tar roads and dirt paths. Here, where more doors are closed than opened. Here, where we experience pain and sorrow on a regular basis. Here, where tears fill our eyes and stain our cheeks. Paul said in this life, we are to live it by faith in the Son of God. We are not alone in this life. We never will be alone in this life. There need not be any big dark hole in this life that we have to feel our way through. Because we live this life by faith in Jesus Christ, we have answers and solutions. Because Jesus Christ’s Spirit lives inside us, we never have to feel frustrated, empty, or alone. Because Christ loves us, we do not have to lose sight of who we are in this world.
Jesus Christ didn’t only die for our past and our future. He died and rose from the dead for our here and now as well. There really is NO big hole for those who know Him.
Darlene