The Gospel

I've been reading and talking about the book, "Jesus+Nothing=Everything" by Tullian Tchividjian. It is so refreshing to be reminded about what the gospel really is. I want to write down a few excerpts but I don't know where to begin. Yesterday, I was struggling with something, and picked it up and began reading where I had left off. Perhaps those are the words I should borrow to share.

"Even as believers, we don't adequately realize how Jesus is enough to meet our deepest needs, so we're always pursuing an add-on approach-Jesus plus something. All these somethings we look to immediately become our idols. They're exactly what God warned us about again and again in Scripture, assuring us of their total worthlessness. But we still pour ourselves into these black holes-especially the deep, dark abyss of what can be called "performancism"-the moralistic legalism that has such a powerful death grip on so many believers and churches and pastors. In Christless Christianity, Michael Horton identifies "the regular diet in many churches across America today: 'Do more, try harder'....The focus still seems to be on us and our activity rather than on God and His work in Jesus Christ." This is indeed, our greatest threat to the gospel."

Another line I love is this: "The gospel's secret of maturity is this: we become more spiritually mature when we focus less on what we need to do for God and focus more on all that God has already done for us. "

If I could, I'd copy the whole book here for you.
Buy one.
It is worth its' weight in gold.