I am still blown away by all that God has done over the past few weeks at Crossroads Community Church, crossroadslive.tv and DFM!! The past few weeks we have seen so many people making decisions to follow Jesus for the first time, or turning to him after living through a hard season away from his presence. It has been so beautiful. And whether it’s at one of our Crossroads campuses, on TV and radio, or on one of our digital outlets, one of the things that we love to do is learn from the Bible – God’s Word. I love teaching the Scriptures! Not only that…I love to explore how the Bible relates to our world today, and how it helps us live out the incredible calling God has on each of our lives.
So after I enjoyed reminiscing over our recent season of God’s Spirit at work, my heart began to think about what God is doing next.
As I thought and prayed, I remembered something we talk about often at Crossroads…God’s people are the only Bible that many people will ever read.
Lord, make us a good and accurate translation!
That was my prayer.
Although followers of Jesus will read and learn their Bibles, many others will only read and learn about Jesus through the lives of God’s faithful people. I love how the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 3 calls the people of God living epistles. He’s saying we are living letters, that others will see and glorify God. So every moment of every day, our lives preach something to somebody. And it speaks loudly! People will either be attracted to or repulsed by Jesus on account of our life story. I like to call it the 5th Gospel…our testimony is both a scary and a terrific opportunity for us.
This is why the Bible places such a strong emphasis on how we live in light of the gospel. When the people of God are malicious, unkind, suspicious, angry, down-right mean, untrusting, judgmental and gossipy, it reflects upon the God whom we say we believe. Who would want to worship a God whose people are so opposite of loving? But instead, God wants to conform us and help us to be like Him in this world. Then his love, grace, compassion, truthfulness, joy, peace, humility, faith, kindness and gentleness spring forth! The people of God reflect the pure light of God in the world with beautiful variety. And that light shines brightly and uniquely in a way that people will behold the beauty of the Lord – through you and me.
So let’s live today, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our lives can be the most accurate translation of the Bible. We can stop, consider our situation, and ask for forgiveness for the ways that we do not reflect His love and life. And then we can get on with doing what we are called to do, and we love to do…change the world and be the hands and feet of Jesus at street level where people need him most. Let the testimony of our lives reveal the worthiness of the Lord!