Good News: Fuel for the Christian Life
God bless you as we move into the days of summer! Over these next months, you may be spending some time in the car, traveling to vacation stops or weekend get-aways. Along the way, you will make a number of necessary stops at the gas station to keep your vehicle fueled and moving down the road. But there is another fuel tank I would urge you to remember to keep filled this summer as well – the fuel tank of your life. Where do you find the energy to engage your callings and to love the people around you well? Where do you find the endurance to meet the difficulties of your life with grace and resolve?
Allow me to share an excerpt from an article I read a number of years ago at Christianity Today’s website, in which the author points us to the source of fuel for real living.
In Galatians 5:6 Paul makes a stunning statement. He says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” So, the thing that matters most is faith expressing itself through love. And then in Romans 10:17 Paul makes the point that “faith comes through hearing the word about Christ.” Put these two statements together and you have what is, in my opinion, the strongest biblical argument for why we need to hear the gospel of grace week in and week out.
According to Paul, real love is impossible without faith. Faith is vertical (it’s upward)—it’s trusting that everything I need and long for, I already have because of what Jesus has accomplished for me. Love, on the other hand, is horizontal (it’s outward)—because Jesus has done everything for me (faith) I can now do everything for you without needing you to do anything for me (love). You could put it this way: love is faith worked out by us for our neighbor horizontally; faith is love worked into us from God vertically…
So if we ever hope to “love our neighbor as ourselves” (which is precisely what God’s law calls for), it will depend on faith. And faith, according to Paul in Romans 10:17, depends on hearing the gospel—over and over and over again. God stokes faith through the preaching of the gospel, and since our faith needs constant stoking, the preaching of the gospel needs to be constant. As long as love is needed (which is always), faith must be fueled. And the only fuel for faith is the gospel. The logical formula, then, goes like this:
No faith = no love
No gospel = no faith
Therefore, no gospel = no love.
The preaching of the gospel alone activates faith, and faith alone activates love.
Wherever you are going, whatever you are doing this summer, remember to keep the tank filled! Intentionally make time to hear the good news and receive those Gospel promises at Hope or at your vacation destinations, for they are our source of real refreshment and real energy for the road ahead. Happy traveling!
