The message of the Bible is a joyful message. While there are several good news stories described in the Bible, one of them has particular relevance for today. This gospel is summarized in the Letter to the Romans as follows:

“If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Rom 8:31

It is good news that God is for you and for me. He is for us, not against us. How much He is for us, He shows through His image, through His Son.

“But God exalts His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Rom 5:8

The language of love is spoken by God through His Son. It is not dependent on whether we are flawless, whether we like Him or hate Him, whether we are pious or hostile to Him. God emphasizes His love toward us by giving everything to draw us to Himself, even if we are not ready for it. This is called: love without reservations.

You are loved

The good news is stunning. She means us personally. It is the invitation to encounter the Almighty God. You are loved. God is for you.

“He who, after all, spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also with Him grant us all these things in grace?”
Rom 8:32

It is this unconditional love that is worth knowing. This love is unconditional because everything that could stand between us has been purified by Himself. God showed His righteousness on the cross. Through this, He has come to terms with the world, and also with you and me. The starting position for an encounter has changed fundamentally. It has changed for the better. He has built a bridge from Himself to us. The encounter is possible, it makes free and also makes free for other people. So Paul writes as a testimony:

“For the love of Christ urges us …”
2Cor 5,14

Let yourself be reconciled

Whoever trusts this good news, whoever trusts God, may notice something amazing in his own life. Many things will be new. People who experience this describe it as a new freedom, a liberation, a coming home, a new beginning.

“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation: the former things passed away, behold, they are become new.”
2Cor 5,17

All of this comes from God. It is an invitation that is brought near through the proclamation. We hear what He is like for us, and we can get involved. We can accept the invitation.

“But all this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself: He does not impute their offenses to them and has set down in us the word of reconciliation.

Therefore, we are messengers for Christ, as if God were speaking through us. We plead for Christ: Be reconciled to God! For He who knew not sin made Him to be sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.”
2Cor 5:18-21

This has nothing to do with a certain religiosity. You don’t have to belong to a church or repeat a formula. It is not a feat to be accomplished, and it is not a condition that we must fulfill. If someone loves you and me 100%, then that doesn’t need rituals. We are loved by God and He has proven that. He speaks it. He speaks to you and to me. With the heart now we can respond. We can respond to love and enter into relationship. We can dare to trust.

That is what is called faith.