The Gospel is All I Have

Kicking off 2013 has brought mixed emotions for me.  Yesterday I tweeted this:

Susan VanSyckle ‏@svansyckle

The world is sometimes too horrible to make sense of and too wonderful to imagine. Both make me long for heaven.

Living in this broken world can be overwhelming. The agony of Newtown today sending their babies back to school. Insurance that covers abortions. Fragmented relationships and sickness.  And then we get little glimpses of what Heaven must be like. Watching our children's excitement at learning something for the first time. Standing for the "Hallelujah Chorus" at Christmas. Feeling loved and wanted.

Have I been blessed? Beyond measure.

But I also feel like last year I was stripped bare of almost everything and lived in much of that brokenness. In the midst of that, God revealed himself to me in a way that I never would have known had I felt like I had it all together. The lie in all of our hearts is that if we just do more, accomplish more, have more, and be more, we'll be ok. But the reality is we have Christ or nothing.  

The truth I have been resting on is that the work is finished. No matter my performance, I'm in right standing with God. On my worst days of sin and selfishness I can rest in Christ's work on the cross. On my best days of "kingdom work" I'm reminded that I can't add anything to what Christ has already accomplished.  

In the midst of the heartache of this life, I have the hope of the Gospel. I have to remind myself that that is joyously enough.  

The Gospel Is All I Have

Words and Music by Nathan Partain

The gospel is all I have. The gospel is all I have.

No well-kept, presentable life to display;

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have.

No courage, no virtuous, bold use of faith;

The gospel is all I have.

Well, the Lord God Almighty leapt down from the sky,And he made himself nothing and served will he died,So that I, just a beggar, at the Judgement might cry,"The gospel is all I have!"

The gospel is all I have. The gospel is all I have.

No merit to offer. No excuses to make.

The gospel is all I have.

The gospel is all I have. The gospel is all I have.

No clever, persuasive words I could say

No debt I could work off. No bribe I could pay,

No goodness. No promise of love that won't fade.

The gospel is all I have. The gospel is all I have.