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Colossians 1:6
All over the world this
gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it
has been doing among you since the day you heard
it and understood God's grace in all its truth.
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October 28 Fruit of
the Gospel Most people regard the
gospel as simply words. It is both the
collection of stories about the life of Jesus as
well as the message of salvation. Words
change and lose their meaning over time but the
gospel never changes. There is a temptation to
make the gospel more palatable for some people
by watering it down and making it simpler.
Different words can be used to convey the gospel
message but the moment that the actual content
is changed, it is no longer the gospel.
Planting the gospel is no different from
planting any other seed. If a person
plants an apple seed, they can expect to get an
apple tree in return. But if you turn the
apple seed into an orange seed, an apple tree
will not grow regardless of how much a person
wants it to be an apple tree. If we want to
harvest the fruit of the gospel, we must plant
seeds of the gospel. There are many things
that can be done to draw people into church and
to create opportunities to share the gospel.
In the end though, the gospel has to be shared
in order to have an effective witness. Mature
Christians bear the fruit of the gospel that was
planted in them. That fruit contains the
seeds of the gospel that we are to plant in
others. When they are planted in good
soil, they will sprout, produce fruit, and
continue the cycle. |
