“The Gospel is bad news before it is good news. It is the news that man is a sinner, to use the old word, that he is evil in the imagination of his heart, that when he looks in the mirror all in a lather what he sees is at least eight parts chicken, phony, slob. That is the tragedy. But it is also the news that he is loved anyway, cherished, forgiven, bleeding to be sure, but also bled for. That is the comedy. And yet, so what? So what if even in his sin the slob is loved and forgiven when the very mark and substance of his sin and of his slobbery is that he keeps turning down the love and forgiveness because he either doesn’t believe them or doesn’t want them or just doesn’t give a damn? In answer, the news of the Gospel is that extraordinary things happen. . . .Zaccheus climbs up a sycamore tree a crook and climbs down a saint. Paul sets out a hatchet man for the Pharisees and comes back a fool for Christ. It is impossible for anybody to leave behind the darkness of the world he carries on his back like a snail, but for God all things are possible. That is the fairy tale. All together they are the truth (Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy & Fairy Tale).

Something I was reminded of again is that we never outgrow our need of the gospel that first saved us. We never get beyond it. We never grow past it. We only deepen in our understanding of it as it reaches deeper into our lives and hearts.

When we neglect the gospel, we tend to forget it. We will slip away from it into error. As the old saying goes, no one drifts into holiness. If anything, we will drift into worldliness and bad doctrine. We will drift into thinking that actions and lifestyles are are acceptable when the Bible calls them sin. We will commend what the Bible condemns.

But when we keep the gospel first, we never get past our need of God. We will not only grow in the gospel and in grace but also in humility. We will never forget the wonder of when we first believed and the biggest desire of our hearts will be for others to know the joy we know.

The good news is still the best news ever. May we never get tired of it or get past it or get to where we don’t want or think we need it.