Hilda Ejike

The Gospel According to Hilda

Before now, I used to get scared whenever they start preaching about repentance. And you know the famous story about that boyfriend and girlfriend who refused to give their lives to Christ... ehen, that one. It brought fear into my heart, and I started to see God in a certain kind of way.

Fast forward to recently, my pastor taught us that the gospel doesn't instill fear. I looked at him deeply and wondered if he knew just how much fear it had instilled in all of us. I paid rapt attention.

He went on to say, "The gospel brings joy..."

In my mind, I was like, "Joy for what? Please sir, it's scary."

That's why, when a lot of you hear a preacher say, "Jesus loves you," you run because you think he wants to cajole you into believing a story that sounds too good to be true.

I continued listening.

Then he said, "The gospel brings joy to the believer because it tells you that Christ paid for your sins, past, present, and future."
What a joy that we, who were once lost, have been reunited with God.

Then it began to make sense.

Jesus loves me and died to save me. That's what the gospel is about. That alone brings me joy that at the end, I can be raptured and for the unbeliever, you can be saved.

I know you already have your misgivings about "how Jesus forgave your sins, past, present, and future." Don't worry, I'm not in a hurry. In my next post, we'll look at it together using the Scriptures.