Today we will discuss the Gospel’s Winsomeness.
The word winsome means: “generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence”1
As the years have continued to add up in my life, the more amazed I am at how the Gospel is often derided for its simplicity. Let me just say, this is a feature and not a bug. It was God’s purpose to design the Gospel so it was easy to understand and accept.
But it seems that this simplicity, this winsomeness, has left the impression that it is not true, sophisticated, or even believable. Profundity and complexity and difficulty are seen as being more valuable. But, I think this betrays a fundamental flaw in how people think.
It has been my experience that people want to feel like they are “in on a secret.” That they have access to some special morsel of information and because they do, they are in a special group. While there is nothing inherently wrong with being a part of something unique, when this becomes the defining characteristic of our life’s pursuit, it can become quite dangerous.
We can get sucked into the never-ending game of one-upping each other. We have to do better in our attempts than those who have come before. This is a foolish endeavor. Not because we can’t be increasingly more creative, but because we will never reach the end of our trying.
The Gospel is winsome. It is simple and therefore beautiful. If we are not careful we can think that because a child can believe it that it is not worthy of our more mature considerations. And this is where we would be wrong.
One of the fundamental realities of the Gospel is that we will never fully apprehend its expansive nature. Yes, we can see many of the components that make it work. We can even understand what we are supposed to do. But in the end, we are only drinking from the ocean a cup at a time. We will never be able to finish. We can admire its beauty and never be able to dive into its depths.
As I said at the start, this aspect of the Gospel is not a bug. It is one of the essential features of the Gospel.
God, in His infinite wisdom, has made the most important message so accessible that it almost feels impossible to be true.
And that is the wonder of it. It is true.
Amen. Hallelujah.
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