Plugged Into
Now I would remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.* (1Co 15:1-2)
1Corinthians 15:1-2 makes clear that the Gospel comes to us preached. It interrupts our lives, thoughts, and feelings with a “Happy Proclamation.” It did this when we first put our faith in Jesus, and it still does this: every Christian has an ongoing relationship with the Gospel.
But the Gospel delivers no benefit unless we receive it. Paul says that he preached the Gospel and they received it.
To “receive” the Gospel is to hear it and to believe it. It’s to put our faith in this message, to entrust our lives to it, to open our hearts to it, to apply it to ourselves.
They say we see over 4,000 ads a day, all claiming to be significant. Let’s say that figure is high—one-quarter is still 1,000 ads.
Over one-thousand Messages, Announcements, Proclamations, per day?! So we have built defenses to protect our minds and hearts from this barrage. We learn to avoid, ignore, mute, glance past, these messages.
But the danger can be that we treat the Gospel Message, the Announcements of Scripture, the Proclamation of Jesus Christ, as just more noise. Someone wanting Something from us or selling Something to us.
It’s hard to turn off the rejection-setting and receive.
Proverbs 10:8 says, “The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”
Our situation is not new. There’s always been a tension between the wisdom of God’s commandments and the babbling noise of the world. They both come to us as signals, in words, as something to hear and receive, or not.
How do we receive the Good News differently than we do the daily news? How do we receive the Message of Life while rejecting the spam of a parasitical world?
1. Take a moment and remember that it is the Gospel coming to you, from God, in love, with blessing. It’s a different kind of thing. Switch your setting from “reject” to “receive.”
2. Ask for “good ears” to hear. Jesus regularly calls for “good ears,” as if to say, “I know it’s hard to hear what’s important through the noise of the world.” We need His help.
3. When you do hear it, try to plug it in to where it needs to go—Receive it.
If it’s a message of His presence, plug it into the loneliness. If about His power, plug it into the overwhelm. If about hope, plug it into the despair.
To receive the Gospel means to let this message get to work. Plug it in. Apply it. Hear it whir.
The Spirit has work to do in us. The Spirit uses the Gospel truths about Jesus. Will we receive this message? Will we receive this work?
Even now—every day—this is the invitation, the offer, of God.
PRAYER
LORD God, please give me good ears to hear through all the noise of the world and even of my own inner thoughts--I want to hear You. I want to hear the Gospel. I want to hear and to receive the good news of Jesus. Eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive. In Jesus’ Name, Amen
Photo by Tangerine Chan on Unsplash