What is the heart of the Gospel? That is, what do we most want to make clear when we share the Good News with someone else? That their sins can be forgiven? That they’ll go to heaven when they die? Today’s excerpt from The Gospel of the Kingdom is from pages 55, 56:
“We are at the very heart of the Gospel of the Kingdom when we say that what God holds out to us is the privilege of knowing Him in His glory and the high calling of making His glory known to the watching world. This affects every area of our lives – all our relationships, roles, and responsibilities – so that we no longer live merely for ourselves, but unto and for Jesus Christ our King, and for the realization of His Kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit in and through our everyday lives.
“Because we have entered the Kingdom of God we have the privilege of engaging the glory of God and making that glory known to the watching world through everything we say and do. When this is the commanding hope of our lives, it leads to earnest seeking of the Lord, sincere repentance, and a disciplined life of obedience, motivated by love and thanksgiving, which brings the light of truth and the reality of grace into every part and parcel of our experience.
“Surely this is a hope – a hope that includes forgiveness and eternal life, but so much more – that every sincere follower of King Jesus will want to embrace, know, and live each day.”
For reflection or discussion
1. How do you experience the glory of God? In what ways? When? How?
2. How would you explain what it’s like to experience the glory of God?
Jesus described Himself as the way to the Father. Believing in Him thus gives us an access to eternal glory that we too rarely make right use of—and seldom hold out to others. Share today’s podcast with a friend. Get together and discuss the hope of glory and how to have it. Order your copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom from The Ailbe Bookstore today.
T. M. Moore
