Simple, But Not Easy: Living The Truth Of The GospelSample

Next Steps

What’s next? You keep on keeping on.  It will not be easy, but it will be easier if you surround yourself with people who are striving for the same thing and learn to lean on your brothers and sisters in Christ for support as a plugged-in member of a local church that proclaims and projects the Gospel, easier still if you become a part of an accountability group within that local church. 

When things get really tough—and Jesus said they would (John 16:31–33)—don’t listen to the Enemy. He’ll whisper lies, things like “God doesn’t hear you,” “God doesn’t love you,” and “God’s not able.” Fight back with the truth you have learned and keep moving forward, greeting opposition and/or difficulty as an opportunity to illustrate God’s mercy, or patient restraint, and grace, or generous benevolence, proving the Gospel true. 

Never will your sanctification be more obvious than when you are met with challenge and hate and respond with confidence and love. Your perseverance in circumstances that would cause others to shrink back or give up will prove the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life, display the kind of transformation only He can bring about, and strip onlookers of every argument against the One you serve. 

Some Christians find it easier to live out the truth of the Gospel in hard times and more challenging to do so when things are easy and there’s no obvious reason to cling to It for their immediate survival. When these seasons come, recognize them for what they are, opportunities to rest, regroup, and refocus, but don’t stop or you’ll weaken and grow dull. 

Christianity is not a sprint, but a marathon. Take each leg as it comes. Listen for God’s voice. Respond appropriately when He speaks. Keep in step with the Spirit, and, like Paul, you’ll find a sustainable pace that will carry you over hills, through plains, and across the finish line that God promised victorious. 

How about you? Is your resolve to live out the truth of the Gospel for the sake and salvation of others just as firm when things are tough as it is when things are easy?  

How do you respond when pressed? Is God glorified, or lifted up, by your words, actions, and attitudes? 

What, if anything, needs to change? What would that look like?