Don’t Lose Heart, Don’t Stop Proclaiming

“Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. ² But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. ³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵ For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
 
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (2 Co 4:1–6). (2016). Crossway Bibles.

This is one of my all-time favorite passages, and there are a lot of reasons why.
I’ll mention two.

First, Paul highlights the tension many of us experience in ministry. Ministry is a gift that we have been given through God’s amazing goodness, love, and mercy. We love it and are thankful for it!!!
 
But also…

It can be easy to lose heart…to feel discouraged…to look for man-centered techniques to manufacture results. We can feel tempted to tamper with the Word, to practice cunning or underhanded ways.

Like Paul, we are called to renounce such wickedness and refuse to practice any manipulative or man-centered approaches to ministry!
 
This brings us to number two.

Without Christ, people are perishing.
 
Let’s pause there. Without Christ, people are perishing. They’re dying. They’re lost. They’re without hope and without God in the world. Perishing. Blinded by the god of this world, unable to see the glory of Christ.

Does that bother you? Are you grieved by the lostness in your community? Are you grieved that some people are currently kept from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ?

Don’t lose heart. Don’t stop proclaiming. What we proclaim is not ourselves. We proclaim Christ! We proclaim the God who creates light in dark spaces and life in dead places. Don’t lose heart!

As always, I want to remind you: there are amazing resources in our state to help church leaders faithfully proclaim Christ in their communities. You can always reach me at president@scbo.org.

Grace and Peace,
Adam Pursel, SCBO president