The simplicity of the Gospel

If you are reading this you are most likely familiar with the line, "I love to tell the story, for those who know it best seem hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest." I never got that as a kid. But now that I find myself falling into the Galatia trap of thinking that my salvation begun in grace through faith is now made better by finite me. What kind of spell comes over us to have such thoughts? I hunger for a steady diet of the simple Gospel that reminds me that grace does not require a suit and tie. It does not require ourtward forms of piety. It does not require "churchianity" - that confusing language only other evangelicals understand. The Gospel was never intended to morph into a culture cold to outsiders. It was intended to soften hearts to the point of loving others cross-culturally. The Gospel abhores my tendency to pretend that I'm OK when we all know that I am a sinner. The simple Gospel is the easy yoke and light burden of Jesus' teaching that defines sin not through the culture of established religion, but through Scripture alone. I love to tell that story. I need to hear that story. The Church is to be the medium of that story. Our lives are to be the testimony of that story.