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So I just finished a great book and I found it to be very challenging. The author makes a great statement that has stuck with me. He said. “if the gospel isn’t good news for everybody, it isn’t good news for anybody.”

I think we as Christians think we are the only ones who possess any type of truth or morality. And because of that the “good news” is only for us who have been saved and are following Jesus. Now, don’t get me wrong, as Christians we do follow the ultimate truth that is Jesus Christ. And he is the only way to heaven. But to deny that God’s truth cannot be seen in other areas of Creation other than Christianity is unwise. God’s truth can be seen in a lot of places, not just “Christian” places.

I say all this because I fear at times we isolate ourselves and keep the good news of Jesus to ourselves or only discuss it with other Christians instead of proclaiming it in everything we do. We can show people the good news of Jesus by something as simple as buying them lunch or by something as complex as a deep philosophical debate. But it all comes down to the fact that the good news is that God is calling ALL His children back to Himself in His Son Jesus. So for us, the Church of Jesus Christ, this means that we are called to be a part of this.

But it begs the question. How can we reach a lost and broken world if we are never around lost or broken people? How do we effectively live out this call to feed the hungry, if we don’t know any hungry people? How do we clothe the naked if we don’t know anyone in need? How do we reach the lost if we don’t know anybody who is not a Christian? It makes me think of the Rich Man and Lazarus. The Rich Man was perfectly content to isolate himself from Lazarus and the pain and despair of this world with his possessions and wealth. But where did that get him? Hell. The Rich Man got complete isolation from Lazarus and God.
So often we jump in our cars, alone. Ride to work, alone. Spend the entire day in our office, alone. And then drive home and spend the evening, alone. Then, a few times a week we jump out of our shell to meet with groups of other Christians to encourage us on this “tough journey that is life”. But deep down I think to myself, “tough journey?” Am I even engaged in the journey? Does my day to day look anything like what God intended for it to be?

I wonder sometimes if we are more like the Rich Man. If we have somehow created a society that is very good at disguising it, but at the core is a people who are isolated from the very things God desires from us. Where I live sometimes it is hard to find physical need, but could that be because we have very effectively isolated ourselves from the needy of this area? I mean there is a lot of need just a few miles away, but no one wants to go there. Is it possible that our call to declare the good news is not to go on isolated trips to the “poor areas” or even half way around the world, but rather, to be living everyday in the midst of poverty and despair?

Is it too tall of an order to work in an affluent area and live amongst the poor and oppressed of the inner city? Is God asking too much that we would actually live amongst poor and hurting people that need Him more than anyone? Is it out of the question that instead of donating money to some far off person at a soup kitchen we would actually share the good news with someone by inviting them into our home and sharing a meal? Is it possible that person could be neighbor? And is it possible for that person to tell other people that, “That family, in that house, cares about me.” Or how about buying gloves for a child in need during the winter? Not some far off distant child, but a child who lives right next door. A child who tells other children in need “that person in that house cares about us.” Because when we care about them, it is not at all about us, it really is Jesus caring about them.

You see, sometimes the need is right in front of us yet we do everything we can to get further and further away from it. We move from the city to the suburbs and we trade the suburbs for an exclusive new development community, and before we know it we are completely isolated from the very world God has called us to be a light into.

We have an amazing call to partner with God in the restoration of all things. He sent Jesus to pay the price for our sins and to begin the process of putting it all back together, for His glory! The big question is, what are we going to do with our part?