God is truthful

"If you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant." - Colossians 1:23

We live a world where it is a common occurrence for our hope to be disappointed. For instance we constantly hear advertisers make promises about high quality service and products only to discover reality is nothing like what was promised. The experience of having our hope disappointed has good side. It helps us to be savvy. But when it comes to how we hear the Gospel we must open our hearts to the possibility that this time our hearts will not be disappointed. Lately I have noticed that as I have shared the Gospel with people that many people struggle to believe. They have been conditioned by culture to be let down and they expect the Gospel to be another let down.

The Gospel is the announcement of the unmitigated goodness of God. It is the announcement that we are loved more than we could imagine in our wildest dreams. We are more significant that anyone has ever told us. We have a great future in God’s grand universe. Left to ourselves we cannot stem the tide of cynicism that creeps into our hearts through culture. We are not left to ourselves though. Holy Spirit has been given to us to help our hearts open up to the Gospel. One way we can cooperate with Holy Spirit is through this simply spiritual discipline. Take a moment to write down all the ways you would live our lives differently if you really believed the claims of the Gospel. How you would live in the face of death, what your value system would be, how you would feel about yourself and others. Once you see the difference between how we live your lives now and how you would live it if you really believed the Gospel. Ask God to give you the faith to believe the Gospel in all of its greatness and goodness.