In this video, Jeremy Treat talks about the compelling love of Christ, and how Jesus makes sense of the brokenness and beauty of our world.
The following is a lightly edited transcript; please check the video before quoting.
I love the Lord because he first loved me. I mean, I was a rebel running from God, and he made me a son and gave me a place at his banqueting table. It’s all God’s grace. And it’s not honestly just the terrible things that I’ve done or the worst that he saved me from, it’s also that he saved me from what I thought was my best. That the Lord saved me from my self-righteousness, from my pride, from thinking that he’s lucky to have me on his team. I was saved from religiosity that puffed me up in so many ways. So, at the end of the day, it’s the grace of God that has completely changed me. It’s the gospel that not only brought me into the kingdom but has grown me in the kingdom every day since, and I cling to his grace every day.
It’s the grace of God that has completely changed me.
From an intellectual standpoint, if someone asked me, “Well, why are you a Christian?” I would say that I think that the gospel actually makes sense of the world that we live in, both in its beauty and its brokenness. Everybody knows that something is wrong with the world, but all we hear in our culture is pointing the finger. It’s the people on the other side of the fence. It’s the people on the other side of the line. It’s always the problem is out there.
And when I hear the diagnosis of Scripture, that the problem is in here, it’s in my heart, it’s in our hearts, that actually makes sense of the way I feel when I hear about how my nature is to curve in on myself, to take things that are good and to make them ultimate. And that actually separates me from God. That helps me understand why this world is full of pain, and suffering, and hurt, and strife, and tension.
So, the gospel makes sense of the brokenness of the world but also of the beauty of the world. The fact that we long for hope, for meaning, for purpose. And that it’s there, that we can have that in Christ. And what Jesus has done for us in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension, in being able to live in his kingdom today, and seeing it come on earth as it is in heaven.
The gospel makes sense of the brokenness of the world but also of the beauty of the world.
For me, the gospel makes sense of the world, but it’s not just intellectual, it’s personal. I remember for me, at a difficult time, a time where I was hurting, where I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know what was going on in life, and it was when I had nothing that I realized that Jesus was everything. That it was his grace that would save me, and sustain me, and carry me through, and draw me into a work bigger than myself, a work that God is doing in this world.
So at the end of the day, I love the Lord because he first loved me. And his love has not only come to me, but it’s flowing through me to others, and I get to be a part of the good work that he’s doing.
