Christ Jesus has commanded all of His followers to “go and preach the gospel into all creation” (Mark 16:15). Aside from loving God and pursuing Him, the command to spread the gospel is perhaps the only command that Christians should be doing all their lives. Let me explain.
All For Jesus
The Christian life isn’t one that’s centred on a person’s desires, skills, or ambition. It’s a life centred in Christ Jesus. As such, growing in His likeness and obeying His commands is what His followers prioritise.
In spreading the gospel, one has to realise that all facets of life are involved as well. A Christian cannot simply talk about the love of God without demonstrating it. Any person who shares the gospel must communicate it not just with the mouth, but with one’s life.
In short, if we love Christ, we will obey Him, and in obeying the command to spread the gospel, we will do well to let our lives speak its truth.
Distractions
However, not all Christians succeed at spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ for a number of reasons. Here’s a quick rundown of the things that distract us from sharing the gospel.
1. Our Self
The Lord Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, we must deny ourselves and take up our crosses. If we are unable to deny ourselves, we will surely be not as effective in spreading the gospel compared to when we let go of our personal comforts in order to let Christ be known. (see Matthew 16:24; Philippians 2:6-8)
Consider Christ Himself, who let go of His heavenly comforts. He was God, yet He chose to humble Himself and take the form of a servant so that we could be saved. If we aren’t able to deny ourselves and humble ourselves, surely our own enemy hindering us from spreading the good news is our very own self.
2. Cares of This World
Have you ever watched the news lately and found yourself either worried, depressed, angry, or just simply unable to talk about God’s goodness in any way? That’s how the cares of this world affects us.
When our focus in on the temporal things of this life, such as our food, drink and clothes, or how other people view us, we will be greatly hindered from sharing the gospel. In fact, the cares of the world even hinder our personal growth in God. (see Mark 4:19; Matthew 13:22)
Consider how Christ became the “Friend of sinners,” ignoring all sorts of ridicule and criticism, as well as the lack of a place to lay His head, just so that He could bring God’s love to us. Can we do that?
3. Our Sins
Nothing cripples our sharing the gospel more than our sins do. The Bible tells us that sin is a disgrace to anyone (see Proverbs 14:34), and that is even more magnified in the gospel preacher. Living in sin automatically disproves the person’s testimony of how Christ saved Him. After all, the product of Christ’s salvation and our repentance is a life that’s different from the one we used to live before Christ.
