July 19

The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. — Matt 11:5 BSB

What is the gospel? Isn’t it the proclamation of pure mercy and overflowing grace? Doesn’t it declare God’s loving-kindness in sending his only Son to die for us, and through his obedience, blood, and merit, to provide a salvation that is free and without cost? Isn’t that the essence of the gospel? It isn’t burdened with conditions or limited by anything we must do; it flows freely, like the air we breathe. The poor who hear the gospel treasure it because it speaks directly to them. It’s sweet and precious when the heart is brought low. But if I stand in religious pride, relying on my own righteousness and haven’t been stripped of all confidence in myself, what is the gospel to me? I have no room in my heart for a gospel that is free and without cost.

But when I am brought to the depths of spiritual poverty, when I am nothing and have nothing but sin and guilt, then the gospel—the forgiveness of sins, the covering of my naked soul, the outpouring of God’s love—becomes a treasure. When the pure, blessed gospel enters my heart and conscience, wasn’t my poverty of spirit what prepared me for it? Didn’t my previous state of need make room for the gospel, making it sweet and precious to me? We must descend into spiritual poverty, into that painful place, to truly feel the value and taste the sweetness of the gospel of God’s grace.