Never leave home without it

Or go home without it, for that matter.

What am I talked about? Visa, MasterCard, American Express?

Nope. You can live a whole life without those.

But, you cannot live a second of your life without the Gospel. That is because we need Jesus … always.

The more I talk with church leaders and people, the more I think we have largely missed the Gospel.

We think of it as the starting point, or the diving board (to use my favorite home-grown analogy). We don’t just start at the Good News of Jesus and then move onto maturity in the Christian life focusing on other things. We never, ever, ever outgrow our need for Jesus. He is everything, and whatever keeps you from Him is sin. Period.

Because you need Jesus every second, you need the Gospel every second. He is the one Mediator between God the Father and us sinners, and without Him we would be consumed in an instant.

Yet, how easy is it to leave the Gospel and start related to God on the basis of ___________? (Insert whatever you hope in by default.)

Some of us trust in the fact that we once trusted in Jesus. Like He is a ticket to heaven, and we can simply put Him (or our faith-in-Him) in our pocket to use later. No, no, no. HE is the good news of God’s glorious grace, for in Jesus we get God (1 Peter 3:18 ). Do you want Him?

Note how Paul ended his greatest letter, to the Romans: "Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ…" (Romans 16:25 ).

Who was he writing to? Christians (or at least mostly Christians), who still needed the Gospel daily to be strengthened, encouraged, and to persevere. We need outgrow our need for the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus is not just for the unsaved. It is for everyone.

How do you get a daily reminder of the Gospel? Do you preach it to yourself? You should. Don’t wait until Sunday. You may not even here it then.

Take the Gospel with you. Don’t ever leave home without it.