Week 36 Day 5
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Reflect:
It is not hard to believe that “some” people need the gospel. Their lives are an obvious mess or they are ruthless and cruel. The challenge is to believe that the “normal and nice” unbeliever needs the gospel. Do people really need to be “saved”? Even to say this will be construed as arrogant, narrow minded, and judgmental. To take action, as in actually sharing the gospel with the goal of someone moving from unbelief to belief, can been seen as terrible or even criminal. Once again, this demonstrates the reality of the two-story construct. There are thought to be things that are “really real” like gravity and calories and fire, and then other things that are not really real, like faith. No one would be considered unkind to warn a person to keep them from falling from a height or getting to close to the fire, but to warn a person in regard to ultimate realities is put in a different category. But gravity and faith are not in two categories; they both are about real things. Either gravity is real and people can be hurt or killed if they disregard it or it is not. Either the gospel is real or it is not and people’s lives temporally and eternally are impacted by their decision regarding its reality or not. It has never been “popular” to take stands regarding truth that others do not agree with. The only way to remain popular among all people is to go all along with whatever others believe to be true. But, of course, this is impossible in practice. How could you agree with everyone? Why would you try? You must decide to do what is right by how you relate to others, regardless of how they perceive you. Do not be arrogant, or hardheaded, or judgmental, but do not have a failure of nerve in regard to the gospel either. Do you believe the gospel is true? Do you believe Jesus is the savior of the world? You are not left with the choice of either believing the gospel is true or being accepting and kind to others. The gospel is not at odds with accepting all people and loving them where they are. It is at odds with failing to speak and live what you believe is true. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.