When we go to a rally or a revival meeting these days, we would realize that the content of a message is rather different. There are more and more sweet talk coaxing people to receive Jesus. Some even hardly talk about Christ, but are just mere motivational or inspirational talks. Sometimes to the extent of forsaking the call to repent. I had ever faced this temptation as well. I was tempted to preach a message focusing on the goodness of God so that people would find it easier to receive Christ. I knew that if my call for repentance was too strong, my rally would surely be a failure. Sure enough, whenever I preached for the people to repent before our loving God, the response was few. But I knew that was what God wanted me to do. He was not looking for numbers to boost my ego or made me accountable to my church, He was looking for genuine disciples. That is why there was such a thing as the full Gospel I supposed. We must shift from a soothing Gospel to a complete and wholesome Gospel. The Lord has been reminding me of four things we should repeat in our Christian walk.
The first is Redemption. This is our inner motivation. Without Christ, we are condemned and hopeless. The grace and mercy of God reached out to us while we are still sinners. It is in this loving redemptive work of Jesus Christ that we have eternal life and hope. As such, this redemption should always be our inner motivation that cause us to live a holy life and to serve Him.
Secondly, it is about Repentance. Repentance is actually our response to Christ’s redemption. If we really understand the love, grace and mercy of God that He saves us while we are still sinners, then we should respond by repentance. We should be living a new life for God so that we would bring glory to His name.
Thirdly, there is the Relationship. Relationship is our sustenance. If we are to sustain our walk with God, we would need to build a healthy and close relationship with Jesus. If we do not maintain and grow this relationship, our walk with Jesus would become a chore. Serving God would become joyless. It would simply be reduced to a task.
Last but not least, we need Renewal. Renewal is the way to transformation. If our minds are not renewed, we would then only experience behavioral change and this change is only temporal. As a child of God, we should transform into His likeness and restore the image of God in us. We need a change in our worldview or mindset so that we may understand the things of God and His will correctly.
These four aspects are very much needed today and should be reminded again and again. By no means that they are sequential, but more often than not,happen concurrently. Let us not just go for watered down messages to tickle our ears, but be ready to take in solid food from God, then we will experience growth beyond what we can expect.