S210P6 – Our regular reminders: the reason for it all

1 Cor. 15:1-2

Now brothers and sisters, let me remind you of the good news which I preached to you, which you welcomed and accepted and on which you stand [by faith]. By this faith you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

I have been guilty of turning my justification and sanctification into something that is all about me. Certainly my transformation had something to do with me; however, this life’s journey is not to be focused on what else I can gain.  It is easy to become self-centered in our faith because a lot of our work is introspective.  We must spend time in prayer alone with the Lord, and we must pour over the scriptures while the Holy Spirit reveals them to us. We spend a good amount of time alone with God one-on-one.  That kind of attention certainly can make us feel like it is all about us, but we must remember the totality of the gospel which we have accepted.  The transformation of the individual is a single seed which is meant to lead to a harvest greater than a single plant.

The gospel message should be simple and known to the believer.  It is our foundation, and we cannot progress in our faith without it.  There is no way to fulfill any purpose or calling without understanding the totality of the good news.  We might think that memorizing John 3:16 is sufficient because it means that we have escaped from the clutches of the enemy, but that is only the starting point. There is much work to be done not only in the individual but also in the Church and in the world. There are too many distractions trying to make us forget the reason for which we are really here.  It is critical for us to be reminded regularly of the ultimate goal of the good news message. It does not and cannot end with us.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church stresses the importance of our faith being sincere.  This means that we take it seriously, desire to grow in our understanding of it, and actively walk it out. It means knowing the value and power of that which we carry.  If we understand that, we should be excited to see the Spirit manifest in our lives. We should be excited to see others come to Christ just as we have.  We should be excited to see the kingdom grow beyond just us. We must pursue how we can live this gospel message better daily. Father, give us a new revelation of the good news, that we would increase in our dedication to your purposes and our desire to operate in the kingdom’s power today.