Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.”
The last few months has been a very busy and exciting time. As I explained in my previous posting, I was recruited within Steiger International to be a part of NLM (No Longer Music), which is a touring show that tells a story through music, dance and drama in order to share the message of the Gospel. The month of April was our time of rehearsal and I had the pleasure of joining several other missionaries from all around the world for 4 weeks of crafting and preparing the show. We worked very hard and I’m proud to report that the show is now ready and we are looking forward to going on tour in South America this summer. It has been an amazingly wild season that has stretched me and challenged me in brand new ways. This season has also stirred my heart as I have reflected on this Gospel message which we are working so hard to portray.
Our show tells the story of a girl with a broken heart. It begins so beautifully, of course. The girl meets the boy, they fall in love and begin to live out the fairy tale story that usually only exists in books and movies. But the unraveling starts too soon after the boy falls for another and leaves the girl behind. A broken heart plunges the girl into a dark and desolate place where no meaning can be found and no light can be seen, and tragedy after tragedy lead the girl to the point where she decides she should take her own life.
But thankfully that is not where the story ends. It is at this lowest point, when she is about to take her own life that God intervenes, takes her place and substitutes himself to die in her stead. He gives his life so that she can keep hers. When the girl sees the value placed upon her by this God figure, when the girl understands how much she is loved, she is finally able to heal and find wholeness once again.
The experience of putting this show together has really challenged me. It has confronted me with the question of whether or not I truly believe in the power of the Gospel. You see, I have lived my whole life in the context of Christianity – I’ve been a regular attendee of church since childhood, I went to Christian school as a youth, I went to Bible college when I left home and I’ve worked in ministry throughout my adult life. With that, I confess that my faith has become too normal or too cultural and I often fail to recognize the raw power of the Gospel. Do I really believe that the message of Jesus on the cross has the power to literally save someone from taking their own life? Do I believe that Jesus Christ really is the perfect imprint of the one true God and really is the answer for our broken world today? Do I believe that this Gospel really is the power of God that brings eternal salvation to all who believe? Or is my faith just a casual religion that I’ve gotten really good at participating in?
In today’s world, you don’t have to look very far to find brokenness, darkness, and people who are suffering. I believe it is time for Christians to recognize the power of the Gospel. We must seek God with all of our heart and mind and strength. We must never grow weary of doing good. We must let our light shine and be unashamed of this Gospel, because it really is the hope of the whole world.
I pray this will be true of your life, and I pray it will be true of mine.