First of all every single Christian has been giving
the mission of sharing the Gospel (Matthew 28:19) and preaching it to ourselves
on a daily basis helps us in this task. Preaching to ourselves will make the
Gospel easy to preach for like anything else practice makes perfect. As we go
about our day reminding ourselves of the wonderful truths of the Gospel, we
place into our memory banks the scriptures we need to know when we share the
Gospel to others. The more we mediate on the joy of the Gospel, the more we
will desire to know God’s Word and the wonders of the good news of Jesus Christ
and the more we will long to share it.
Humility is the greatest virtue a Christian could
hope to attain as we seek to become more like Christ (Philippians 2:5-8). Part
of preaching the Gospel is the recognition of our sinful nature and the need
for repentance. When we preach to ourselves the Gospel we become acutely aware
of our own sin nature. Proper understanding of our need for Jesus and His
salvation changes our perspective in how we see others. As we learn to recognize
our own depravity by looking past our perceived goodness and see the darkness
of our own hearts, we are humbled and lose any pious attitudes we may carry.
Then as we see others who we used to judge as being worse than us, we will grow
in compassion and grace and learn to love even the tax collectors as Christ
did. No longer will we look down on anyone, but instead we will see them as
just like us…sinners in need of Jesus.
Paul commands us in 2
Corinthians 13:5 to “Test
yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you
not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed
you fail the test?” Preaching the gospel to ourselves is a good place to start
in self examination. Part of sharing the Gospel is giving the Good News of what
a life lived by a true disciple of Christ brings. The Gospel is more than “going
to heaven”, it is a rebirth. When we receive the truth of the Gospel we are
born again and the power of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit breaks the
chains of sin in our lives. If there is no evidence of rebirth and the process
of sanctification is not an active part of our lives then maybe we need to
revisit our own salvation experience. The scariest words in all of scripture to
me are right from Jesus Himself in Matthew
7:21-23 when He says "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter. "Many
will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and
in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' "And
then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice
lawlessness.” Be sure of your election and calling (2 Peter 2:10).
The Gospel is our hope (1 Peter 1:3). It is easy these days
with the proliferation of media to be aware of the evil times we live in. Crime,
war, addictions, and abuse are just a few of the daily troubles that in some
way affect all of us. If all we have is this life then it becomes easy to
become discouraged, depressed, and to see this life as pointless and without
hope. But the Gospel is our hope because it is about finding peace in this life
and then knowing that we are only here a short time but there is hope for an
eternal life where sadness and sorrow do not exist. Whatever things we may not
know about heaven we can know that there will be no more strife and suffering. Preaching
the Gospel to ourselves daily reminds us of that hope. And the word hope to the
world really speaks of some kind of wishful thinking but hope to the Christian
is a sure thing. The truth of the Gospel is that what we believe by faith,
though we cannot always see it, is actually real and when we truly believe the
Gospel then we can have assurance of that hope.
Preaching the Gospel to ourselves reminds us that the Gospel
glorifies God not us. Faith without works is dead as James tells us in James
2:17 but sometimes we get caught up in our own works and think they are what define
our salvation. Preaching the Gospel to ourselves reminds us of God’s grace and
that as Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, “…it
is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.” The chief purpose of our very existence is
given to us in Isaiah 43:7 “Everyone
who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have
formed, even whom I have made." Give God ALL the glory.
These are just a few reasons to preach the Gospel to
ourselves every day. I encourage you to be a Berean (Acts 17:11) and “examine
the scriptures daily” to see if these things are true. Share the Gospel every
chance you get. Tell the good news to everyone you meet but don’t forget to
remind yourselves of it daily “for it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who believes” – Romans 1:16.
