One dimension of the Christian life and the essentials of the ‘gospel’ (the good and all encompassing message of God to mankind) involves a heart felt compassion for the brokenness of people. The lifeblood of ‘reaching out’ is a heart that beats with understanding these essential elements of God’s design and purpose in this world. If the ‘gospel’ is reduced to a philosophical paradigm that simply competes with other equally valuable world views then our message is demoted to personal preference. There would be nothing superior to the Christian message. There would be nothing significant about seeing the world through the telescope of what the Bible reveals about life and living.
However, we live in a world that seems to be in desperate need of answers and solutions to the deep and tragic flaws of our culture, but also of us as individuals. Thankfully, God has not left us alone to figure it out for ourselves, to search around blindly in the darkness for the key that unlocks the door on an unfindable wall. He has revealed Himself, and His truths, to us in His Son, who not only modeled what is right and good, but also gave Himself to cover the debt I owe to God for my rejection of His rightness and goodness.
So for the Christian, that message becomes a object that we can offer the world, but it is an object that has to be offered with a heart of compassion, care, love, concern and a deep set value for mankind. The gospel should not (and cannot) become a weapon that inflicts damage, but instead, is a healing ointment that has to be applied with the compassionate hands of someone who has met the Great Physician.
In the next four weeks, we will look at the essential elements of the Christian message that unfolds the revelation of redemption, the message of hope and the solution to our tragedy.