The Greatest Story ever told is the one that transforms lives and changes our present and future reality. It’s about the One who redeems and empowers you through His unconditional love—the purest, truest love beyond full comprehension.
The Gospel story is of a perfect man, Jesus Christ, Who came down to our broken world. He saw the pain, the guilt, the condemnation, and, most importantly, the gap that kept us from communion with God. When Jesus came to earth, He radically changed all of that.
Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” There was a barrier between man and God. This broke His heart as it kept us away from relationship with our Creator. God then sent His only Son, Jesus, to earth to die a brutal death on a cross, carry the sin of the world for us, and then rise from the dead, displaying to all that not even death itself can keep Him down.
This Good News changes everything. It covers us with grace and mercy, gives us the ability to know God intimately, and gives us hope and a future. What it means to “know” God derives from the Hebrew root verb. This word “yada” means “to know, to perceive, or to understand.” The beauty of this word is that in our English language, the best way to describe it would be “a deep intimacy and an experiential knowledge” rather than just mindful understanding.
The Gospel has changed what my life could have been. I gave my life to Jesus at a young age, praying a prayer for salvation, and I have only continued to come to know Him more in the study of His Word as I have grown. It seems that everywhere I look, there is a new, beautiful, magnificent reason to praise the Lord. In Revelation 4:8, it says, “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” Every time the angels in Heaven see a new facet of the Lord, they cannot help but cry “Holy” to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
The more time you spend with a friend, the better you get to know them. In the same way, the more time you spend with your Creator, the more you share in His heart and develop a Christ-like love for the people around you. This experiential knowledge, this intimacy, this “yada” knowing has been what changed my life. All the glory goes to Jesus Christ and the choice He made to die, take on the weight of the sin of the world, and then rise again so that He could make a way for us to have a relationship.
We, then, have the choice to draw closer and seek Him out. This Faith Month, will you draw near to the One Who changed the course of history and your story? The Gospel is not just a story to know; it is a reality that can refresh and renew you today.
*Tori Graham is a Young Women for America Ambassador in Oklahoma.
