Mark Sorensen I loved a thought that was shared by one of our pastors yesterday in worship, Jessica Lagrone. She referenced the following quote:
“Preach the Gospel at all times; use words when necessary.”
I have always loved that quote. So much so, that, years ago, one of my favorite christian themed t-shirts to wear was one that had that very saying on it. Now. Let me go ahead and address the elephant in the room: “Christian Themed T-Shirts” . You remember those, right? What we now enjoy as “Pinterest”, we use to print up and slap on the front of every white t-shirt we could find and wear them around town.
How about the one that replaced the Coca-Cola emblem with the words, “Jesus Christ, Eternally Refreshing”. Ah, yes. No company, product or brand was left untouched. How about Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: “Jesus; Sweet Savior, King of Kings”. Even Abercrombie was claimed for the glory of God: “Abreadcrumb & Fish”. Show of hands that wore those in the early 90’s? Ok. Hands down.
It was my, “Preach the Gospel at all times; use words when necessary” shirt, however, that I loved to wear. I loved that shirt primarily because, one, it wasn’t trying so hard, and two, it was a beautiful reminder of our call to LIVE the Gospel in such a way that we didn’t have to shake Bibles at people. They would just see Christ in the way we lived. It was simple. It was safe. It was not in your face.
It really wasn’t until yesterday, however, that I looked at this quote from a different perspective (thanks, Jessica). To live the Gospel in our lives is, not only necessary, it’s essential. However, we mustn’t set up camp in that world and shy away from telling people the story of the Gospel message. As the apostle Paul spoke of the “Gospel message” in the New Testament, it was simply the death and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
We must live lives that demand explanations. But, we mustn’t also shy away from telling people the good news of Jesus. May we, as the body of Christ, live passionate lives that point people to the hope found in Jesus and may we not shy away from telling others where our hope is found.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17
