Getting Ready for Advent, Part II: Moving out of our comfort zone


Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written:
‘Those who have never been told of him shall see,
and those who have never heard of him shall understand.’
                                                                     (Romans 15:21)

 How far out of our “comfort zones” this prescription of Paul’s would take us, were we to apply it to our own forms of ministry! Most of us confine our proclamation to places where the gospel is already recognized. We preach before congregations comfortable with the idea of Jesus. We write for church-oriented publishers whose clientele is solidly Christian. We teach in institutions sanctioned (if not supported) by the church.  We lead Bible studies for those to whom the Word of God is already the source of life.

This is not to say that these endeavors are sufficient simply because we are doing them; there are always deeper and more urgent ways that the good news of salvation can be proclaimed, written, taught and led.

But imagine what our ministries would be like if we tried to walk the path that Paul set for himself. We would find ourselves not in comfortable heated sanctuaries but on wind-swept street corners. We would not be preaching to the choir but proclaiming in the darkness, buoyed by the bold conviction that “those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

As deeply as we are moved by Paul’s example, many of us by necessity must remain, at least for the time being, in the ministry situations with which God has blessed us. Nonetheless, as we ponder once again the coming of Christ into our midst, we may pray that heart of our proclamation be seared by Paul’s burning ambition. In this way the Gospel will penetrate dark corners of our sanctuaries that we didn't even know existed. 

Shine in our hearts, Lord Jesus! 


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