The gospel is for those whose lives have reached tragicomic proportions.  When you read Paul’s description of his life in Romans 7, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…What a wretched man I am!…Who will rescue me from this body of death?"

We fully experience the gospel when we are singing the blues.  There is something about seeing how utterly absurd it is to sin in light of such a magnificent God that brings us to a place of comedic tragedy.  Ken Boa said it so well…

"Only Christ himself can live the Christian life, and he does this in us and through us." (p103, Conformed to His Image)

When we let that sink in then we are ready to receive the gospel in its totality–"Christ in you the hope of glory." (Col. 1) Or as Jesus said, it’s all about a vine and branches so that Christ can live the Christian life in us and through us.