“Jesus died for the clumsy, the broken, the ones who never say the right thing, the ones who thought they were past it (but aren’t), the anxiety-ridden, the depressed, the mentality unstable, the dads who can’t get it right and the moms who are overwhelmed; He died for those whose pasts haunt them and for those who are sucked into a cycle of self-deprecating thinking- the impure, the abused, the sexually deviant, the ones who can’t help but exaggerate their life; he died for Peter who denied him not once but three times, he died for the woman at the well who was appreciated for only her body – for the skeptic, the murderer, the thief – those who cuss and drink and smoke, and for those who don’t; he died for conservatives and the liberals and everyone in between, for senators and meth-heads, preachers and construction workers, the fundamentalist and the porn star. He died for those abused by the church and struggle to feel safe, valued, or heard. His grace is more than sufficient for an eternity of sinful lifetimes. Believe. Trust. Come, those who are WEARY and weighed down… Ask him to take it all away, ask him to forgive it all, and you will be NEW” (from an anonymous pastor).

There’s hope for all of us who can’t ever seem to get it right. The hope is that Jesus makes all things new. He didn’t come to validate your lifestyle but to save you from your sin and to give you a new life. He came not to make you good or better but to make you new. Brand new.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus can still save anyone at anytime from any kind of past or any kind of addiction or any kind of struggle. If He can save the thief on the cross who made a last-second confession, He can certainly save you or me.

As I’ve heard before and said before, the good news of the gospel is not that you can get to God but that God has come to us in the person of Jesus. He came for me. He came for you. And He still saves.