Gospel Wakefulness

An excerpt from Jared Wilson's book by this name:

Imagine you are driving down the road and your car stalls at a railroad crossing.  You are understandably nervous as you try to reignite the car's engine, but you become even more so when you see a train turn the corner in the distance and begin quickly closing the gap between it and you.  The train engine's horn is blaring and the engineer has thrown on the brakes, but you are too close and he's coming too fast.  You move from trying to get the car to start to trying to unfasten your seatbelt, but fear has made your hands stiffen and shake.  You can't get your seatbelt unfastened.  the train is rushing toward you, and you know you're going to be hit.  And you are.  Suddenly and from behind.  A man in a truck behind you has decided to ram into your car and push you off the tracks, even as he is destroyed by the impact in the very spot you once occupied. 

You get out of the car, shaken and still frightened.  You are terrified by the gruesome scene, in shock over your rescuer's sacrifice.  You are grateful in a way you've never been grateful before.  You wish you could thank the driver of the truck for saving your life.  Even in your terrified awe, it feels good to be alive.  You feel woozy, so you sit down on the trunk of your car, and as your trying to retrieve your cell phone from your pocket to call 911 and marveling at how little damage the violent shove did to the rear bumper, you hear a whimper from inside.

You didn't know that before you'd left the house, as your kids were playing hide-and-seek, your youngest son decided to hide in the trunk of your car.  As you open it up frantically and discover that he is miraculously unharmed, you suddenly realize the total greatness of the loss you almost suffered.  Your gratitude, your amazement, your new outlook on life takes a giant leap forward.  That is the difference between the gospel wakefulness of conversion and the greater gospel wakefulness that often occurs later.

This passage was powerful to me.  The book, which I commend, is about the difference between merely knowing the Gospel, and being gripped by it down in the heart so that it is the most precious truth in the world to you.  Christ steps in and takes the punishment that we deserved.  That is a simple truth.  But the beauty and depth of it will take whatever weight we put upon it, and as we plumb the depths of the Gospel, we will never grow bored, and its resources will never dry up.  God loves us so, so very much!  May we awaken more fully to him.  May we see his love anew in powerful ways!