The word “Gospel” means “Good News” – and that’s what the Gospel is: The good news of God’s peace and forgiveness and new life because of Jesus Christ. Countless millions have discovered this truth for themselves.

Millions more, however, don’t think about God and the place He should have in their lives – and as a result they never become followers of Jesus. Often it’s because they’ve never really understood the Gospel. They may have a distorted view of it, or may never have heard it at all. They’ve never understood that God loves them, and Christ died for their sins and rose again to give them eternal life. When they do understand this, their response often is like those in the New Testament who “received the message with great eagerness” (Acts 17:11).

But countless others want nothing to do with God or with Christ, and they turn their backs on the Gospel. Why is this? The reasons they list are numerous. Some don’t want to give up their lifestyle or a particular sin that has them in its grip. Others claim to have intellectual problems with faith. Still others have been turned off by the supposed hypocrisy of some Christian they’ve known.

Beneath all of these, however, is a much more basic issue: They simply want to run their own lives, instead of turning them over to Christ. Don’t let this be true of you, but discover the joy of following Jesus Christ by giving your life to Him today.