“The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart; that is, the Word of faith we are proclaiming. That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved… How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?… Faith comes from hearing the message.” ~Romans 10:8-17

Over the past few decades, we have gotten away from speaking the Good News. Of course, we still believe that God grants us salvation by his grace through faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We haven’t stopped believing. But we’ve stopped talking. We don’t proclaim with our mouths the way we used to, the way we need to.

What do I say? I don’t know what to say!

It might help if we saw our calling to proclaim not so much as engaging a rescue mission, but participating in a reality mission. Ours is a reality mission. The undeniable reality is that someday every knee will bow. Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus is Lord! And the day is certainly coming when all of creation will bow before him and recognize it. So we declare to our neighbors and friends, “You need to change jerseys! There is only one Lord and he is Jesus! You need to be on his side!”

It’s like declaring that dinner’s going to be ready at 6:00. You tell your teenaged kids or you tell your husband, “Hey, we’re eating at 6:00!” They may not show up. They may choose to ignore your declaration or reject your announcement. But you’re still throwing it out there: The food will be on the table at 6:00. You are a messenger with a message.

Have you spoken the Good News lately to somebody who really needs to hear it? Can you picture yourself saying to someone, “Christ Jesus has become for you your righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” Can’t you tell somebody, “Salvation comes by no other name than that of Jesus.” Can’t you say those kinds of things to the people God is placing right in front of you every day?

The Word is near you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart.

Peace,

Allan