"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you,..."1 Corinthians 15:1.
As I read chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, I reflected on why Paul would need to remind Christians of the gospel --a message he had already delivered to them. The answer is in a quote often attributed to Martin Luther:
"We need to hear the Gospel every day, because we forget it every day."
Yes, how quickly we forget the good news. It's drowned out by the world in so many ways. In the last talk on Via de Cristo weekends, we learn that there are two ways we can forget the gospel.
1. We start to believe that we are something.
This most often happens when things are going well for us. We are prospering, so we must be "good" people, right? We are in control, making the right decisions, we can take care of ourselves. In this case, we are forgetting that we are tainted with original sin, and eventually that sin will get the better of us. (Guess what, the sin of pride already has!)
2. We believe that we are nothing.
In this case, because of something or some things that we have done, we are not worthy of God's love. The Holy One could never save the likes of us! Our sin is simply unforgivable. In this case, we are failing to trust God or believe in His Word.
Paul was "apt to teach" -- one of the qualities needed by every Pastor. And he had just one thing to preach, over and over:
" For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2
You and I still need to hear this every day.
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