Hi ladies school holidays are happening so I’m having a little break this week but – – – I’ll be sharing some posts with you that I’ve really enjoyed. Tracey xx
Every Little Thing
by Deidra Riggs
The other day, in a bookstore in my community, I stood in front of a bookshelf. It was filled with books, with shelves that reached a few feet above my head and spread out on either side of me. A sign at the top of this section of books labelled this part of the bookstore “Defending the Faith,” and I was struck by the nature of the word defend. “What is the gospel?” I asked myself. I wanted to know if it is something that needs defending. Because I think what the gospel really needs is to be lived. Love the Lord your God with everything available to you — your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength. And love your neighbour as you love yourself (see Mark 12:30–31). Some have boiled these verses down to four words in two sentences: “Love God. Love others.”
It can be easy to read those four words and think they are weak or watered down. It can be easy to believe those four words don’t offer enough of a challenge. But what happens when we actually begin living them? When we approach every little thing in our lives with a love for God and a love for everyone around us — even our enemies, especially our enemies — we swim against the current and walk against the grain. Living the Good News in every encounter is no small endeavour. In fact, when held up against one another, living the gospel is probably much more difficult than defending it. What if, instead of defending the faith, we began the hard work of loving God and loving people with everything available to us?
We don’t make the gospel relevant. The gospel is relevant in spite of us. The gospel of Jesus Christ was born relevant. We don’t need more conferences or retreats or networks or churches or fund-raisers or missions trips or rescuers to make the gospel be what it has always been, right from the beginning of time.
Choosing to believe the gospel and to try to live it out is not a journey for the faint of heart. Even though that’s the way we all begin, isn’t it? Our hearts faint at the slightest inconvenience or disturbance, or even at the very mention of turbulence. I’ve said it before: Jesus doesn’t tell us to count the cost for nothing.
You do not need to fancy up your life. You don’t need a bigger platform, or a more significant ministry, or a bigger house, or another circle of friends, or more members in your small group, or anything more than what you have when you take a good long look around you. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not need us to make it anything more than it already is. What the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to do is to be exactly who we are, in the places where we find ourselves, and to be infused with the salty goodness that comes when we surrender our lives and our agendas and our hopes and dreams to the power and the control of the Holy Spirit.
It is no small gesture, this surrender to a gospel life. The power of the Holy Spirit will transform you first, and it will begin on the inside of your fainting heart. It will be sweet and intimate and beautiful and risky, and you will wonder if your heart can take it. But go with it. Release your grip. Give the performance a rest, and let Him in. God is not going to force Himself on you. He is persistent, and that is because of the unsearchable love He has for you. He holds a torch for your heart, but He waits patiently for you to respond to His gentle advances. He will not give up. He will not give in. He will not place a checklist in front of you or require you to get your act together. He will leave the choice up to you, because who wants to have someone love them out of a sense of obligation? God is not needy like that. God is sure of his love and devotion toward you, and God is equally sure that He is worthy of your heart.
You can read more from Deirdra Riggs here http://www.deidrariggs.com