07/25/2023
I recently read a convicting statement by Curry Blake that said, “If your gospel isn’t touching others, it hasn’t touched you.”
Ouch.
I’ll be honest. Over the years, I have gotten into a rhythm of life and ministry that at times looks a lot like a rut. Rhythm or rut? I’m all for healthy rhythms, but there can be a grey line between healthy rhythms and dangerous ruts.
One of the staff values we hold at the church I serve is “Create healthy rhythms.” Our commitment is “to spend time with Jesus regularly and pursue balanced work-life rhythms to care for ourselves spiritually, physically, and emotionally.”
Much has been written lately about the myth of work-life balance (e.g., David McNeff, 2021), indicating that an either-or approach tends to damage, rather than enhance, both. And so the pontificators of emotional health describe a “seven-slice approach” of family, professional, personal, physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Okay. So now we have seven slices to balance instead of two. However you want to slice it, the end goal is the same: healthy rhythms lead to a healthy life.
So, what does all this have to do with the convicting statement of the lack of a gospel touch? I have discovered that in my rhythm of life and ministry, a rut begins to form, and the gospel becomes more of a distant echo than the imminent sound of the Spirit. This leads to a mechanical rhythm devoid of the Spirit blowing where it wishes (John 3:8). As the heart grows cold, there is no heat to assuage the cold of others.
What I am discovering is that in my daily and weekly rhythms, I need to create space for the Spirit to move, to breathe, to radiate, to blow the cool embers of my heart in order to rekindle the fire that once burned bright.
In other words, I need the gospel to touch my life again and again for the gospel I preach and live to touch the lives of others.
Do you have a rhythm of renewal built into the rhythms of your life? If not, your rhythms can turn into ruts, and the gospel is left on the coffee table of your heart collecting dust.
Create a daily and weekly rhythm of renewal and allow the gospel to keep touching your heart so that, in turn, it will touch the hearts of those around you.
“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, CSB).
“Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance” (1 Thessalonians 1:5, CSB).
