Be the Gospel
I have a friend whose son served recently on yet another tour in Afghanistan in the American military. One day she received an email from her soldier-son, where he lamented the pitiful things he had witnessed: the suffering of innocents, the death, the chaos. “Where is God in all this?” he grieved. I counseled her, “Tell him God is there in your son’s anguish over the situation.”
Sometimes we forget, if we are grieved by the dire condition of this fallen world, how must the Lord Himself must be effected. It is a mistake for us to think that because we are helpless in our circumstances, that He is too. God is not the author of the sufferings of this world, He is the author of the cure. John 3:16, “God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son,”…
Do we really think we care more than He does? Our finite minds cannot sometimes comprehend or conceive an answer to this world's suffering, but remember, we are here as Christ’s representatives. This is a situation, an opportunity if you will, for us to BE the gospel to someone else who is similarly affected by life’s uncertainties, but who doesn’t know Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:6 says, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” The heart of sympathy that we feel for the sufferings of others is evidence of God in us.
Matthew 5:16 says, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
There is an old saying among Christian circles, “We may be the only Gospel others ever read.” 1 Thessalonians 1:5,” because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction.” Be unshakeable. Choose to believe in the goodness and love of God in the face of gross inequity, because its’ not enough to TELL others about the Gospel, it is important that we BE the Gospel before them. BE compassion. BE love. BE righteousness. BE truth. BE hope.
Peace.
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Are you saying that as this young man grieves over the atrocities around him that he will be communicating the gospel to those around him by his grief?