I am not a handy-man. In fact, if I am actually the guy who keeps guys like this in business. In the course of life I break a lot of things and some of my friends fix a lot of things. Every now and then I get the urge to get a taste of the glory. I reach for some tools and attempt to get things done. Recently I felt such an urge in our kitchen. After my wife put in a lot of work remodeling I decided I could rewire the outlets. In theory it really wasn’t that hard. I actually got it done and a few of the outlets even work. But there is this one outlet that is, well, not working. On one side the outlet for a plug-in simply doesn’t work. On the other side the switch for the light works. In fact, it works so well that the light does not shut off, no matter how many times you flip the switch (or ask it nicely).
I am confident that I have narrowed down the problem. The issue resides in the wiring.
The only helpful aspect of this story that highlights my mechanical ineptness is that it illustrates a very practical problem for Christians. There is often something disconnected in the gospel wiring. If we were to pull off the face-plate of our Christianity and take a look we would see some wires dangling. Loose wires are never safe. This goes for kitchens and Christianity.
A major symptom of loose gospel wires is joyless apathy. The signficant wire that needs to be connected is the character and covenant of God as expressed to you.
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is when the exiles returned from captivity in Babylon and got to work on rebuilding the temple. After they laid the foundation we read that they began to sing responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:
For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel (Ezra 3.11)
Notice the main theme of the song is the character of God. This is worthy of a song! Far too many “Christian” songs today emphasize the character of man rather than the character of God. The fact that God is good is worth singing about. Everything he says and does is good. Now, we should remember that God is not good because he simply does good things as weighed on the scales of what we as humanity have agreed is good. No. God does what is good because he is actually good. In other words, goodness actually has its definition in how it relates to God not the other way around (God as he relates to goodness). So everything God says and does is good and right because he does it. We can accurately measure and test our conceptions of goodness by straining it through the biblical colander.
But there is more. Even in this ancient praise song, there is more.
Notice also that this goodness is united to a personal covenant keeping love. That is what the Bible says when it refers to this “steadfast love” of God. This is his covenant love. It wouldn’t make much of a song if this God was detached from us. How much joy could one garner from a God who, however good, was not showcasing his goodness in our lives? This is not the case with God. The God of the Bible is good and his goodness comes home. It is personal.
I suspect that it is this personal aspect of God’s character that is a cut wire for many of us. If this wire is not connected then the gospel lights don’t really turn on, the power is not on.
Listen, if you are a Christian, this means that this immeasurably good God is eternally good towards you. It is as if all of heaven’s blessings are backed up in a divine dump-truck and unloaded on your doorstep! You are buried in the goodness of God! You could dig and dig and dig, forever, and never reach the depths of this field of goodness.
I think this is the type of thing that got ahold of the Apostle Paul. Have you ever noticed in Galatians 2 how he speaks as if he is the only person in the world? Listen how close and personal he takes this gospel:
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2.20)
It is that last part that I am after: who loved me and gave himself for me. Did you catch that? Do you see how personal that is? Paul is writing a letter to the Galatians (amid a blistering rebuke of legalism) and you can almost see the tears of joy on the page! God is a God who loved, even me! Christ, he died for me. He loves me!
In my own fight for gospel joy I have found myself making significant strides when I take the gospel personal. This is a point that I regularly have to return to as I have to get to work on the never-ending project of my own heart in light of the gospel. I pray this serves you in that same pursuit.