I have this friend Erin. We became friends in Poland. We lived in an apartment in Czestochowa with two other girls. But, Erin and I would stay up late into the night, sitting across from each other in these super ugly 80s chairs. We would talk about what God was doing in us. We would talk about how God was using our team. We would talk about what Jesus was doing in the lives of the young people we were hanging out with in Czestochowa. But, often, we would just talk about the Gospel. We talked about what we had learned to be the Good News, what it was that was so good about Jesus and what He had done. We talked about our favorite things that we had learned through the Bible, sermons, YWAM schools. Eventually, we decided, that all the quotes and scriptures and sermons we loved... they were all saying the same thing. They all taught the same one thing (well, a few things bundled together into one thing): The Gospel. We decided, then, that there was really only one teaching. And we started calling it "the one teaching." So, whenever we came across the kind of Good News that just makes your heart happy, we'd look at each other and say, "it's the one teaching."
I share this story today, because I read something today, and my mind and heart went back to those chairs in Poland.
Check it out:
"In order to live out the life God intends for us to live, we must understand and believe the gospel AND it must permeate all of life. Many Christians believe the gospel is the starting point in their relationship with God, but that they move on to something more after that. If this is the case, they are deserting the one who called them by grace and turning to another god to save them – they are no longer living in line with the very truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:6-10; 2:14). The gospel is the power of God to save everyone who believes (Romans 1:16) and to make them righteous by faith in the work of Jesus Christ, accomplished on their behalf (Romans 1:17; 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21). However, it’s not only the beginning of our Christian life, but it is also the ongoing means by which we are changed (Colossians 2:6- 7). As Tim Keller has stated, “The gospel isn’t just the ABCs of Christianity, but the A to Z.” It is the way in which we are to live everyday of our life. The reason why so many Christians fail to experience ongoing transformation is because they have forgotten what God has done for us in the Gospel (2 Peter 1:3-9)."
The Gospel is not the starting point. Oh no, it's the only thing. We could read about it, talk about it, process through it, learn about it forever. And we must. It's how we'll be changed. And 2 Peter 1:3-9 is one of the things I thought about a lot that summer. We have everything we need for life and godliness, and we need to be reminded of that a lot, so that we don't forget.
The above paragraphs come from "The Gospel Means" by Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA
Thanks Amber and Erin for letting me use this picture without asking :)
