The gospel is waiting by John Fischer

The gospel is waiting. It is waiting not to be spoken, but to be lived. The gospel is waiting to be believed and to be put to use in your life and mine. It's not just a static message; it's a living testimony. The gospel needs much more than paper to be printed on; it needs a life it can imprint.

"Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (2 Cor. 4:1-2).

The success of the Gospel in our present age does not depend on how attractively it is packaged, but on how honestly real Christians are living out their lives in the world. It's not just the Gospel that does it. It's not just a message. It's the gospel in you and in me. Nothing needs to be done to the gospel except to be lived.

Nothing needs to be done to the Gospel. Everything's already been done. But there is much that needs to be done in our lives by the Gospel. And this is the every day walking in faith that even the strongest and longest of Christians must do, too. There is hope to be expressed, sin to be confessed, forgiveness to be embraced, suffering to be endured, glory to be shared, love to be received, and love to be given. It is the presence of all this happening in our lives that we are to commend to someone else.

If the Gospel is alive in me and I introduce myself to someone, I am introducing them to the Gospel. If it is not alive in me, no amount of dressing it up is going to convince anyone; but, on the contrary, it will mask the real truth.

The issue, therefore, is not how to present the Gospel, but how to make certain it is living in me — a much more difficult proposition. It means deep questioning, soul-searching, and observing myself continually in light of the truth. "Undressing" would be a more appropriate expression of this process than "dressing up."

Dressing up, if it protects us from having to be honest, is nothing more than cover-up. That's a message you simply cannot dress up, especially if you tell the whole truth about yourself.

No need for deception. We won't draw people into a net and then surprise them with the Gospel. We set forth the Gospel plainly through words of truth and words of honesty from our lives. We trust God, the Great Designer, to handle His own image.