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The life of the saved satisfies humanity's deepest yearnings.

The gospel is the wonderful news that the supreme and holy God who created the universe loves the world and has a plan for it.

When humanity, God's highest creation, rebelled against him, the world was subjected to frustration and humans merited eternal damnation. But God expressed his love by sustaining Creation without letting it be destroyed and by providing a way of salvation for humans.

God sent his Son Jesus to be our substitute through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and exaltation. By bearing the punishment due to us, he opened the way for salvation, which is received by trusting in him.

The saved enter into a love relationship with God through the Holy Spirit and are given the strength to be the holy and loving people God made us to be. They also enter Christ's body, the church, which mirrors the unity of the Trinity and which participates in fulfilling God's plan for the world: bringing salvation to humans and upholding God's values in the world. This life of the saved is completely fulfilling, satisfying humanity's deepest yearnings.

This plan will be consummated when Christ returns and the wicked are punished, while the righteous inherit the new heaven and the new earth.

Ajith Fernando is Youth for Christ's national director in Sri Lanka.

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February 7 2000, Vol. 44, No. 2