Why oh why?

Why is the gospel so difficult to understand, grasp and remember?

I have friends that preached it for years but now can’t seem to apply it to their own life. I have a friend that is such a devote Jesus follower but gets so easily distracted by other people’s opinions all the time. How many of us have forgotten the gospel at a certain point? And no, not forgotten for real, just forgotten to look at our own lives through the lens of the gospel.

Broken eyes

The sadness in your eyes says the world seems to be dying
No more hope to give away, to deny it feels like lying
But you talk about this gospel of Jesus up in heaven
And how everything will be alright for those that just believe Him
There are tears behind your broken eyes, but you never let us see them
You cry yourself to sleep at night, to deny it would be lying

You broke His rules so many times, yet you shine the light so brightly

Sometimes I think you don’t believe that Jesus really loves you
It’s such good news for everyone, far more than we could dream of
But the gospel says that grace has come, to save even the weakest
It helps us all, to stay with God, and to stay away from evil 
So, it’s time for you to realise, that Jesus really loves you
It’s such good news for everyone, are you ready to believe it?

Believing

It’s not the same kind of action as eating, walking or singing.

Is it more like sleeping, seeing, listening, being? Yes, they are choices in some way, but in a completely other way, they just happen to you. If you do not want to see, there is an opposite action you need to do, namely, close your eyes. To not listen, you need to plug something in your ears. To not sleep, you keep busy, do not lie down, eat, drink coffee and distract yourself, but at one point… you will fall asleep, of course, if you do lie down, close your eyes, make the room dark and relax, you can choose to sleep faster.

So, what is believing? How do you get there? Do you convince yourself of something? Do you read a lot of things? Do you hang out with those who believe? Or does it just happen to you? Does God give it to you?

The Bible speaks to us about this luckily.

God saved you by his grace when you believed.
And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done,
so none of us can boast about it.
For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2: 8-10

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world,
but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
Then you will learn to know God’s will for you,
which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Because of the privilege and authority God has given me,
I give each of you this warning:
Don’t think you are better than you really are.
Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves,
measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,
so it is with Christ’s body.
We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.
Romans 5: 2-5

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses
to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down,
especially the sin that so easily trips us up.
And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus,
the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
Because of the joy awaiting him,
he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.
Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
Hebrews 12: 1-2

Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you.
And now that I am away, it is even more important.
Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2: 12-13

Have we now found the answer?
It is a gift from God that He is willing to give to anyone that is willing to accept it and do something with it?

We can lose the desire, but He is always willing to reignite you.
We can get hurt, but He is always ready to heal.
We can sin, but he is constantly eager to forgive.
We can forget, but He is ever reminding us.

Faith is an action from God that enables us to have faith?
I think that is the best question to answer with.