Why do I need this Gospel?

Galatians 1:11-15

"Paul first asserts in general the non-human character of his Gospel by stating that it is not according to man then supports this assertion by referring to both the source of his Gospel and the manner of its communication to him." NICNT

It is always interesting when I hear people talk about faith, whether it be Christians or non-Christians. I find that in the majority of cases the presentation, of whatever faith, seems to be one of what the speaker inherently knows. What I mean by this is the sense that faith is "mine" or "your" or "theirs". This diminishes the need to acknowledge something other than ourselves as the source of that faith. I very rarely hear anyone say "the faith that Christ gave me" when talking about spiritual matters. And yet that is the point. If we were not given this faith and wakened from the dead to be able to receive it we would have no faith at all. Or more accurately our faith would be in the enmity with the one true God. WE do not have anything apart from the saving faith we have in Christ Jesus. And that faith comes from a holy, holy, holy God. That should give us pause. The Gospel and our faith should not be taken lightly for it is a momentous thing. It should drive us to our knees seeking forgiveness.

Having told the Galatians this, Paul does something that I wish I could consistently emulate. So often it is ease to present the Gospel and move on to why the addressee needs repentance and forgiveness (which they indeed need). But Paul starts by reminding the Galatians that he was a murderer. That shold be our model. Present the Gospel, and then, using wisdom, explain why we needed it. This is a hard thing to do and one that is lacking in Christians. Mostly because it is a very scary thing to do. What if we enumerated our sins and the need for a Savior and the other person laughs? or says "you are sick!"? My answer is yes, but it was worse than that, I was dead. Until we understand our absolute helplessness and the need for our Lord to rescue us, our evangelizing will be weak at best. I pray that we have the humility to follow Paul's example.