If someone were to ask me, “who is the Gospel for,” I’d tell you the Gospel is for the skeptic, the orphan, the lonely; I’d tell you the Gospel is for the people who are stumbling, running, or limping, down the road to Heaven; it’s for the young, the old, it’s for sinful people who have lost their way, it’s for grace-filled people who are trying to help others find Jesus. That’s all true, but when I say that I’m thinking of people outside of myself.
The reality is, the Gospel is, perhaps first and foremost, for ME. If I want to share the Gospel with people, I must recognize how desperately I need to encounter and be rooted in, the Good News – not just once – but Every. Single. Day. Only then do I have the capacity to share the Gospel with every person I meet.
Every person not only needs, but also deserves to encounter the Gospel message.
To the one who has never heard the Gospel, and to the one who has heard it 1,000 times, may we always remember that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” -John 3:16.
To the one who wonders if their faith is enough, Jesus says, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” -Luke 17:6
To the person who is seeking a mission and purpose for their life, Jesus invites you: “come, follow Me.” -Matthew 4:19
To the skeptic Jesus reminds us to have childlike faith: “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it” -Mark 10: 15
To the person whose heart is heavy with grief, Jesus promises comfort: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” -Matthew 5:4
To the one who wrestles with anxiety, Jesus reminds you how cherished you are “Do not worry about your life . . . Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? -Matthew 6:25
To those who are caught in sins of lust but are always left unsatisfied, and are thirsting for a deeper meaning to their life, Jesus says, “those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life,” -John 4:14
To the person who struggles with quick judgment and pride, Jesus cautions: “Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye” -Matthew 7:4
To the one who is trying to love every person in their life, Jesus encourages you: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” -John 15:12
For those without a Mother, Jesus looks upon you and offers you the love and protection of His own mother saying, “behold your Mother.” -John 19:27
Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash.
