When we feed our hearts with the gospel, we will be strengthened to fulfill our calling to make disciples. I love this promise because it is the explanation of how we will fulfill our mission of disciples making disciples in the everyday stuff of life.

Sooner or later everyone hits a wall. We wake up one morning exhausted and uninterested in fulfilling our calling. When life gets busy and our schedules overflow, it we have a tendency to question the purpose and impact of our lives. When that happens we need to feed on the gospel.

At its core, belief that life is too busy to follow Jesus is a gospel unbelief issue. If we are so busy that we don’t make time to hear from God through His Word and His people, then we must take a step back to evaluate our busyness. It is through meeting together that we gain perspective on our circumstances and remind each other of the gospel. “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Living life together can be messy. Laying all of our messes on the table can be humbling.

Sharing our messy stories allows us to apply the gospel in everyday ways. The gospel reminds us that our identity isn’t found in our strengths but in our weakness. The gospel becomes real in the mess of life!

The calling to love each other with no limits sounds grand and noble, but when the rubber meets the road it can be tough. If pursuing people and wanting to see change in them stems from glorifying yourself by being their Savior, it’ll never work. The gospel isn’t meant to be a tool to make you look good, it is a truth that points to Jesus. A truth we all need.

Through Jesus we have been changed and so we get to be the hands and feet that carry the gospel to those around us in the everyday messes of life. There is no limit to what God can do through one disciple delighting in and submitting to Jesus. As we seek to believe the gospel in our own lives, we are then equipped to bring the sweetness of it to others. The gospel strengthens us to be disciples who make disciples in the everyday stuff of life!

Loving the gospel,
Pastor Kent