Being the Gospel

I have been rereading the book "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. Stearns, the president of World Vision US, speaks of his journey to World Vision and then gives insightful words as to our call to participate with God being the gospel to the world around us. It is a very good book and I highly recommend that you read it. Read my earlier review http://gkclifejournal.blogspot.com/2010/08/hole-in-our-gospel.html

What has really been in my mind the past 12 hours is responsibility that I have as a Christian to be all that God has created me to be. It goes beyond just knowing the right things and even just 'saying' the right things...but becoming the person God intended and being God's hands and feet to the world. We can so easily go through the motions of being a Christian and acting in the right way and saying the right things at church, but then not carrying our Christian lives beyond the church and beyond our comfortable existence.

Isaiah confront the people of Israel with this problem. They are been offering God empty actions in worship and The prophet gives a message of what God wants from us:

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Isaiah 58:6-8(ESV)

God is calling me to be his hands and feet. It is to put the gospel into action through our lives as we love and give and serve those around us. Stearns says it best..."any authentic and genuine commitment to Christ will be accompanied by demonstrable evidence of a transformed life." He later adds, "There is no 'whole gospel' without compassion and justice shown to the poor".

My life is to be marked in some way by demonstrations of Christ's love and grace in me.

My heart is stirred as I think about what God is calling me to be and do for Him. I want to have a genuine concern for the 'least of these' that fins tangible expression in my life through my words, thoughts and actions. I want the expression of the gospel be part of the very fibers of my being.

Lord, take my life and use it for your glory. Give me eyes to see the needs of people around me. I yield my life to you and ask that I be shaped with your heart.

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