The Gospel

The Gospel is the story of how God reconciled man back to himself. Through the Gospel, I have been learning, we receive life, not just in our initial acceptance of God’s gift, but in our daily taking the grace that God gave us. I have had a conviction to share the Gospel with friends and acquaintances for a long time now, but I never had the guts to get over it and tell someone. This made me feel like less of a Christian, and made me wonder if I really believed what I told myself I did; if I really believed it, wouldn’t it be more important than social embarassement? On summer project we were taught in a very applicable way how to share the Gospel. We were given surveys to start spiritual conversations and “Knowing God Personally” booklets to help us walk someone through the story of how 1. God created us and has a plan for us 2. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s plan for us 3.God sent his son to die on the cross for us 4. By accepting God’s sacrifice we can receive eternal life and have a personal relationship with God. Because of the simplicity of this whole method, I began to worry that I was not making it seem real or personal enough. However, one of the big things that they taught us was that God working in a person’s heart through the Holy Spirit is what convicts them and leads them to make a decision to follow him, not our communication skills. God calls us to share the Gospel, to plant the seed, and if we really believe that God is real, and that his word is living, powerfull, and active, then we can trust him to work in peoples hearts. Even if don’t sell it right. After being shown how to share the Gospel in a simple way and practicing doing it, (however akward it was at first) I began to realize that it was what I truly believed; I began to see that the only way for the Gospel to be relevant is if God is working in our lives daily and through our lives daily. If we trust him to work through us, he can fill us through the Holy Spirit and empower us to see change. That is where the Gospel affects us daily. At some point I realized that I didn’t have the personal determination or boldness to share the Gospel on my own. One Monday morning when I hadn’t talked to God all weekend I simply told him that I was frustrated at work, angry most of the time when I was there, and never had opportunities to talk with people, much less share the Gospel with them. At that point the Gospel itself became real to me; I realized that only through the power of the Holy Spirit, God working through me because of the sacrifice that Christ made for me, I could serve God. When we confess to God that we can not “be a good Christian” then he tells us that Jesus died so that we don’t have to. At that point I was filled with a freedom and joy; it doesen’t matter what I do, God already paid for my sins. I then asked God to help me to serve him, because that was the only way I could do it. The Gospel came up naturally in conversation that day with a co-worker and God helped me to explain the story of how he created man and reconciled him back to himself. The Gospel is not merely a story that we accept as true and “become a Christian” through. The Gospel is the truth that we need God, and that God meets us where we are at. That God can work through us, because of the sacrifice he made for us, without us bringing anything to the table. The only way I can be productive in my walk with the Lord is to daily walk myself through the Gospel and accept God’s grace. The Gospel is a cycle; when we fail, we ask God for forgiveness and for him to empower us to do better, then we go out and attempt, and eventually fail again. Each time God helps us to do a little better, and in doing so we show more people what the Gospel truly means. God has already saved us, and can work through us if we let him.