If it's something that you "should" do, or "have to" do, or even "try" to do....um....
I mean, am I missing the point, or does the fact that Someone died in my place--I mean,
stood there, before the magistrate(s), and took it--literally--"like a man", right up to the point of total sacrifice, PLUS, unlike us, had the remedy if He chose to use it, at any time right up to the point of death...
I mean, if I'm having to ask...
...then either I'm misunderstanding what the Gospel is(i.e, *good* news), or...
I don't believe it's really
that good...
or, I don't really believe it at all....AND/or...
the immediate, urgent cares of this world have blinded me so successfully that I fail to see any merit in someone dying for me in the first place at all anyway...which then probably means...
that I don't really believe I'm a sinner after all anyway, since,
..if Someone dying in my stead means nothing to me...
then it follows that I must not
need anyone to die for me?
Which then means I must not be such a bad chap after all...
which then MUST mean I must not be that much of a sinner, after all, which then...
...MUST mean that pursuing any kind of discipleship *regimen* would be merely an exercise in uselessness--I mean--discipling someone, even if it is myself, who isn't a sinner?
I mean, what would be the point?
No, I mean, if *discipling* myself or others is just something I
should do, or
have to do...
...then maybe I'm not understanding very well what Jesus did for me...