I woke up this morning with these awesome words, “The gospel in the Philippians” on full beam and relevant Bible verses made me wide awake.

This was of the Lord, and a bright moment. So my mind was before dawn again taken up with the glory of the gospel.

“The gospel is at stake”, a young, visiting woman said as in my young days at New Tribes Mission´s “boot camp” in PA some of us struggled with spiritual matters that had a tendency towards legalism or the like without making us happy.  That young woman was the big sister of one of the students who was not too well.  She felt that the gospel receded in the background, and so she aptly said, “Really, the gospel is at stake!”

Her words have followed me over the years.  The gospel is more than a theological word, but a lifegiving key to the passion of our ministry.  My wake-up call today was another needed reminder. We may be taken up by a lot of spiritual things, and we may try to straighten out each other  too, but often we run into a joyless “dead end” with a blurred gospel.

A godly friend of mine, an anointed preacher whom the Lord used in many lives, once said, “I bury my countenance in my hands in guilt and shame, but I will still proclaim Him!”  Every honest evangelist can identify himself with that concession.  Our great reformer, Martin Luther, made many mistakes and yet God used him as His instrument of lightening Europa with the freedom of the gospel.

I would surely have a bone to pick with Billy Graham too, but his passion for the gospel gave him a long rope, I think.  That consoles poor me a lot.  Indeed, the gospel is my charter of liberty despite my own shortcomings.

August 1, 2002 - jn