Simply preaching the Gospel to yourself is not enough. You must also seek to live out the Gospel every day by putting what you know into practice.
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Yep, my husband Ken and I are preaching the Gospel to ourselves.
And we’re doing it every day. Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and let me explain what I mean. I think we all understand how important it is to remind ourselves of the good news of Jesus every day, right? You’ve often heard me say that I wake up in the morning preaching the Gospel to myself; that is, I remind my soul that it possesses no good thing apart from the Lord Jesus. Yeah, oh, sure, I’m a new creation in Christ, but I am still a sinner. Every day I offend God in ways I’m not even aware of; so, I need cleansing; I need forgiveness; I need mercy! And always, in the morning, I thank God for my beautiful Savior. I thank God for the Lord Jesus who I’m learning to treasure more and more each year. My husband Ken does the same thing. He wakes up in the morning and preaches the Gospel to himself.
But it’s a lot more than just talking to ourselves or reminding ourselves of something that’s true about us and about God. We’ve got to live it out. It does no good if we only tell our souls that we’re sinners in need of forgiveness; we have to seek forgiveness when, indeed, we sin. And around our house it happens a lot. Like, in the morning, maybe I speak a word of offense that hurts my husband. Or he snaps at me over something small. Or maybe it’s me rushing past him and hurrying out the door without saying goodbye. Or sometimes he snubs me when he’s in a hurry. Whatever it is, one of us has been hurt. And usually, it shows – there’s a strained silence, or tension hanging in the air, or a different tone of voice; after, what, 40 years of marriage, Ken and I can easily pick up on these slight changes in the rhythm of our morning. Which just goes to show that, yup, we’re sinners; the Gospel we just preached to ourselves less than an hour earlier is needed.
And so, even if my helpers – you know, the girlfriend who comes to get me up in the morning – even if other people are in the house, it’s either Ken or me saying to each other, “Girls, excuse us, but we need a private moment back in the bedroom.” And so I follow Ken down the hallway and back in that bedroom we make good on the Gospel of which earlier we reminded ourselves. If we’re going to get on with our day, we’ve got to live out the Gospel right there. And so, we talk it out. We listen to each other. We recount out loud that we’re sinners. We ask forgiveness of each other. If that doesn’t come easily, then we talk longer. And then, we pray. I must say, the girls who get me up in the morning are very used to this routine. They know we are, most likely, resolving some sort of conflict, and so they, thankfully, give us space. I think they know that Ken and I don’t want just to preach the Gospel to ourselves, we want to live out the Gospel where its mercy and forgiveness is needed the most.
Second Corinthians 3:18 says that you and I as believers, “can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord – who is the Spirit – makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.” That’s what happens when we live out the Gospel of Jesus. And let me take this chance to remind you that in just a few days, Ken Tada and I will begin the new year by, once again, reading through the Bible together, and we’d love to have you join us! Just go to joniradio.org and download our chronological reading schedule for the year. Because reading through the Bible, it’ll really teach you how to live the Gospel every day. Get all the details at joniradio.org. And one more thing – we at Joni and Friends would love to pray for you and your troubles. So share with us your prayer need today at joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends