I’d like to continue working through Barbara Hughes’ book, Disciplines of a Godly Woman, and share a little of what is on my mind. Chapter 2 deals with the gospel. Hughes says that if a woman desires to be godly, then she must know the gospel, believe it, and make it the center of her life. I was up way past bedtime (doing laundry) and really pondering my answer to the question, “What is the gospel?”

I’m not sure there is a short answer to this question. I know that many people have tried to distill it, to make it easier to understand, so that it can be shared with someone else in a matter of minutes. However, I am convinced that in the process of paring it down, too much of the wonder of the good news is lost. Around here, the more popular ways to explain the gospel are FAITH and the ABCs, both put out by LifeWay.
F is for forgiveness.
A is for available; forgiveness is available for all.
I is for impossible; it is impossible for God to allow sin into His Heaven.
T is for turn away from sin and turn to God.
H is for Heaven for eternity and Heaven for today.

A is for admit that you’re a sinner.
B is for believe that Jesus is God’s son and that God sent Jesus to save everyone from their sins.
C is for “confess that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.”

I’ve heard it hundreds of times: If you want to go to heaven, and you can’t remember a time that you asked Jesus to be your Savior, then pray this prayer and you will be saved. I’ve sat through invitation after invitation in which the pastor repeatedly says, “If you’ve never prayed to ask Jesus to come into your heart, and you’re not sure where you would spend eternity if you died tonight, then pray this prayer.”

Well, who in their right mind is going to say to himself, “Hmm, I think Hell is going to be alright. You know, that doesn’t sound too bad”?! No one is! And one of my greatest fears is that thousands of people have been given a false assurance of their salvation based on one of these “say-this-prayer-and-you-will-be-saved” approaches to defining the gospel. I hardly slept last night thinking through these things!

I know people, people in my family, who are banking on a prayer said during childhood. All the while, their lives today show zero affection for Jesus and His people. John teaches in his first epistle that true Christians are marked by their love for God and for one another. John explains in John 1:13 that those who are children of God are so because God “gave them the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Hughes’ says, “The Gospel belongs to God. It is His Gospel.” A gospel that begins and ends with man and his needs is not a true gospel. The Gospel begins and ends with God, and it is defined “according to the scriptures.”

I realize I’ve typed an awful lot and have yet to answer the question, “What is the Gospel?” I’ll try to flesh out my answer tonight and post it tomorrow, for until I understand it and center my life around it, I cannot be a godly woman. Until then, please leave your thoughts and/or your answer in the comments section.