The Dead are Mounting / Is the Gospel Enough?

Continued...

“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”
2 Thessalonians 2: 1-12

The truth of Jesus hurts us in our sinful state. The truth of Jesus saves and heals us in our broken state. The truth of Jesus brings us joy in our saved state. The truth of Jesus has been given to be given. We can use everything the world uses and understands, but all we use and all we do will only bring God glory when we point people to Jesus as the opportunities arise.

We will find peace in our suffering when our churches, our homes, our cars, our stuff, are all used to bring God glory. And telling people about Jesus brings our Father the glory He alone deserves! Jesus is very mysterious to those whom He hasn’t chosen. Jesus uses parables to teach His people and to confound the wise. He shares His mind with us when we follow and abandon our lives in Him. He will use our talents, our bodies, our stuff... but when we have the courage to be counted among the suffering and proclaim the foolishness of the Gospel of God, then we receive the blessings of true giving.

We won’t win this war for souls without Him, or by our experiences alone. We must trust that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation! The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Let’s leave the mystery to God while we’re obedient to His commands, preparing His bride for Him. Doing without knowing the process or the exact outcome... this is faith! We can’t demand signs and wonders, or the acquisition of more knowledge, then feign obedience with God; that sounds like the Jews who found the Gospel a stumbling block and the Greeks who thought it foolishness.
      
Brothers and sisters, I think it’s becoming more black and white. As radical as Jesus’ call to life is, we live in a day of mediocre, lukewarm, carnal, experience driven, narcissism, where just using the word god is less likely to hurt anyone’s feelings and allow us to avoid the cost of being identified alone by Jesus. Do we love God with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength and do we love others as ourselves when we leave Jesus off the table?

We have a gracious Savior who isn’t looking to pick us off and send us to hell when we drop the ball and deny Him. But we also have a Savior who loves sinners enough that He did exactly what we all need for redemption, and He commands us to do the same with our words/actions, and maybe even our lives. Real life is about eternity. Please Lord, help all of us to remember that! Jesus Christ has a passion unlike anything we can muster up in programs or activities alone. Let’s use all of our lives for one purpose... for a chance to tell people that Jesus is the Christ. Let’s live, really live abundantly in the grace of our God, telling people the Gospel as much as we can.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment!