I think to some extent, many Christians have lost the plot of Christianity. I think we’ve forgotten what the gospel is about and what it does for humanity. As a result, we have diminished its power. Today, I have come to remind us about the power of the unadulterated gospel and why we should stick to it without all the additional fluff.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” ~ John 3:16 (ESV). By the time most Christian kids can speak, they already know this verse, which is a good thing. However, do we ever take the time to really think about the implications of this verse?

It doesn’t say “God so loved the good people” or “God so loved the believer” or “God so loved the [insert whatever here]”. NO! “God so loved THE WORLD”. For the believer, this means God loved us when we weren’t believers, when we didn’t pray, when we didn’t trust and know Him. For the unbeliever, this means God also loves you NOW. Whether you’re atheist, Muslim, agnostic, idol worshipper, satanist, etc God loves you NOW!

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” ~ 1 John 4:9-10 (ESV). God initiated this love relationship. He shows His love for us by sending His son. Therefore, we see that love is central to the gospel of Jesus. When we read the book of Acts we can see that the early church knew this and they knew the power of the unadulterated gospel which is why they had to made sure it was preached accurately (Acts 18:24-28).

Additionally, in Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans, Paul breaks down the power of the gospel and what it means for the average person. In the above verses, scripture says God initiated this love relationship because He doesn’t want us to perish and Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. Now this might sound like some weird language but stick with me here. When sin entered the world, it separated us from God and caused us to fall short of God’s glory. As a result, in order to avoid eternal separation from God, we’d have to offer sacrifices for every time we sin and God had very specific rules for what animal (usually a clean, spotless lamb) can be used for the sacrifice and how the offering should be performed. However, instead of God having us do this over and over again, God, in His great mercy, decided to cleanse us once and for all by sending His Son, who was a spotless (lamb) human as a sacrifice for our sins (and future sins). So, whenever we miss the mark, God doesn’t see us, He sees the blood of His Son that cleanses our sin.

“Now what do I do with this information” you might ask. Well, great question. We are not Christians because we were born to Christian parents, or because we vote a certain way or because we’re a specific group of people or because we go to church everyday or because we serve at church. NO! We are Christians when we accept that we are sinners, saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone and live everyday relying on the help of the Holy Spirit to love God and His people genuinely as God loves us. When we understand this, I believe it changes how we approach our daily lives and how we treat people.

Many of us are unable to articulate what the gospel means to us and to the unbeliever and that is not okay. This is a major reason why our evangelism is ineffective. It’s not about God making our lives better or giving us all our material desires. In most cases, the opposite actually happens…we loose friends, family, jobs, money, comfort, a certain lifestyle etc but we gain Jesus and we know that no matter what, He is always with us and He knows our end from our beginning. We realize that our lives are no longer for our pleasure but to please the one who took our place and gave His life so we could have a relationship with the Father.

So, I challenge you today, as we’re closing out 2026, make it a point to know and understand what Jesus’ birth, death and resurrection signifies. How does this truth affect you specifically and how you show up? Be able to explain it in your own words. I believe a great place to start is the book of Romans and Leviticus…LOL I know, Leviticus is a somewhat complicated book but I promise, ask the Holy Spirit to open your understanding every time you read Leviticus (and the entire bible) and watch how everything starts making sense. Grace and peace 🙂