The Gospel Gives Us Wings

After working outside with my Dad yesterday afternoon, we stumbled upon a fallen June Bug that was flipped upside down and was frantically doing everything it could to flip itself back over. It would move its tiny arms (or legs?) back and forth. It would shuffle its body around. Nothing would do. It was a hopeless scene, that my Dad pointed out was so true of us with the Gospel.

Unless someone came by and cared enough to flip that June bug over to relieve it of its suffering, it would spend the rest of its short life in a hopeless, miserable state trying to flip itself over, never being able to do it on its own. It would make noise, wiggle, and frantically move its arms to death. My Dad, out of compassion, picked the June Bug up in his hand, let it get its bearings, and then it was able to fly away.

Fallen and Can't Get Up

We are that June Bug. Because of our sin we have been flipped over on our backs and find ourselves in a hopeless situation. We are doomed to die. The clock is ticking and there is nothing we can do about it. But since we live in the Bible belt, we here a lot about being a "good" person and we get 10 steps to flipping ourselves back over. We start to wiggle by trying to read our Bibles more and cleaning up some parts of our lives. Then we move our arms really fast by going to church and serving more. We think we are making progress because we're moving, but even though we are moving around we're still not right side up and we're more hopeless than ever. Just like the June bug, no matter how many different "good" deeds or activities we add to our life, we just can't seem to fly. We are exhausted, hopeless, miserable, and at the end of our rope.

The Gospel Gives Us Wings

A famous poem by John Bunyan sums this feeling up perfectly:

"Run, John, Run the law commands

But gives us neither feet, nor hands"

The law or commands of the Bible tell us what to do, but they give us no power to do them. Much like the June Bug who keeps trying to do more things to save itself, but is left hopelessly on its back. The law of the Bible shows us that we are on our back, but can't save us and help us to fly. The good news of the Gospel isn't that if we do more good things, read our bibles, go to church, and pray then we will be able to fly. That's not good news. That's exhausting. Especially when you're on your back and dead in your sins (Eph. 2:1-3). No, the Gospel is far better news than some self-help, do it yourself salvation plan. The Gospel gives us wings. God, because of his great love for us, scoops us up, dusts us off, and gives us our wings (a new heart with new desires of the Spirit) through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son (Eph. 2:4-7). The law drove Mr. Bunyan into despair, but the gospel changed him forever:

"Far better news the gospel brings:

Its bids us fly, and gives us wings"

I pray Jesus helps you fly today. All the way to Glory.

(Special thanks to my Dad for the illustration of the June Bug. Nothing has better illustrated the beauty of the gospel to me than this)