Gospel Safety
Article by Brian Hughes
If there were one word to describe your relationship with Jesus, what word would you use? If there were one word that could sum up how you feel when encountering the truth of the Gospel hope, what word would it be?
There’s no correct answer to that question, but I think of the word “safe.” There is a sense of safety that comes when we come into the presence of our Savior and our King, Jesus.
Here’s the truth of our current cultural moment, we are a people who long for relationships that are safe. We crave relationships where there are no expectations of us. There is no pressure on us to be a certain person, behave a certain way, and live up to the requirements placed upon us. But, apart from Jesus, that’s simply not possible. As Pastor and writer Dane Ortlund says, “every human friendship has a limit. If we offend enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out. The walls go up.”
We all feel that every day in our interactions and relationships. But, because of the person and work of Jesus, we are invited into a relationship of true safety.
What I mean when I say that is — we can come to Jesus with no guardrails put up. Or we come believing that we need to do something on our end. We can come just as we are, in that moment, and come confidently that Jesus is eager to receive us.
Let me finish that quote from Ortlund,
There’s no correct answer to that question, but I think of the word “safe.” There is a sense of safety that comes when we come into the presence of our Savior and our King, Jesus.
Here’s the truth of our current cultural moment, we are a people who long for relationships that are safe. We crave relationships where there are no expectations of us. There is no pressure on us to be a certain person, behave a certain way, and live up to the requirements placed upon us. But, apart from Jesus, that’s simply not possible. As Pastor and writer Dane Ortlund says, “every human friendship has a limit. If we offend enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out. The walls go up.”
We all feel that every day in our interactions and relationships. But, because of the person and work of Jesus, we are invited into a relationship of true safety.
What I mean when I say that is — we can come to Jesus with no guardrails put up. Or we come believing that we need to do something on our end. We can come just as we are, in that moment, and come confidently that Jesus is eager to receive us.
Let me finish that quote from Ortlund,
“With Jesus, our sins and weaknesses are the very resume items that qualify us to come to Him. Nothing but coming to Him is required – first at conversion, and then a thousand times thereafter until we are with Him.”
You can come to Jesus with all of your unmet longings, all of your deepest shame, all of your quirks, all of your brokenness, all of your grief, with no fear of rejection. No fear of being turned away. No fear that if you are honest with Jesus with who and where you are, He will be disappointed or fed up with you. That’s simply not true.
As John 6:37 declares, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Come to Jesus with all of the reasons you’ve come up with for why He should cast you out. Bring up the case you have made for why He shouldn’t welcome you. All of your brokenness, all of your shame, and experience His steadfast love and commitment to you.
That’s Gospel safety. When you begin to believe that the very things you’re ashamed of are the resume items for Jesus to receive you — all you have to do is come and collapse in Him. I use collapse because anyone can do it. It doesn’t take any special effort or talent to do. And that’s all that is required from you.
As John 6:37 declares, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”
Come to Jesus with all of the reasons you’ve come up with for why He should cast you out. Bring up the case you have made for why He shouldn’t welcome you. All of your brokenness, all of your shame, and experience His steadfast love and commitment to you.
That’s Gospel safety. When you begin to believe that the very things you’re ashamed of are the resume items for Jesus to receive you — all you have to do is come and collapse in Him. I use collapse because anyone can do it. It doesn’t take any special effort or talent to do. And that’s all that is required from you.
The Christian life is merely growing in our awareness of how much we fall short while simultaneously growing in our understanding of Jesus’ commitment to and love towards us.
So, in the midst of a world where relationships are easily broken, we are quick to cast out others when limits have been reached. We long to be a people who fix our eyes and hearts on this Jesus whose love for us isn’t fickle.
When we begin to believe and experience that, it quickly transforms our relationships with those around us and the new family we’ve been welcomed into by the blood of Jesus.
Rest in the truth of the Gospel: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
When we begin to believe and experience that, it quickly transforms our relationships with those around us and the new family we’ve been welcomed into by the blood of Jesus.
Rest in the truth of the Gospel: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39
Brian Hughes
Pastor of CollegeLife
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