The Power Of The Gospel

It never ceases to amaze me at how powerful the gospel is. It can change utter darkness into blinding light. It can take the impossible and thrust it back into unbelieving eyes so that they too may see. It always changes what it touches.
What I have found to be equally true and mostly frightening is that the change will happen in either direction. We love the stories of radical conversion, but the ones that shake me are the ones of radical dismissal of the gospel. Either on the Rock or under It, there are no other options. Just as there is a radical change in the lives of those who fall on the rock so too is there a change in those who finally reject it. Even of those in the body who turn aside for what ever reason, there is a change that occurs. It usually surfaces in a doctrinal shift away from at least one point in particular. Not one specifically across the board, but one specifically that cannot be reconciled to the life it is busy offending. It becomes easier to change the word than submit the thing it is trying to kill.
I had a picture once of a submarine which was sitting on the surface of the sea while people were furiously trying to fix all the cracks in it so that it could submerge. Meanwhile the submarine captain was yelling out the order to dive. No one was heeding though because they thought that in the sub's present state it was no good for submerging and could, at best be sold to the Canadian Navy. This did not hinder the captain from his command though.
The Lord said this was a picture of Christians who are beset by the need to fix their sub before diving into God. The Holy Spirit continues to call the command to 'Dive!!!', but they fear their sub will fill up with water and they will die. Of course this is the whole point. The word wants to kill us! The water flowing through the cracks was a picture of the power of God flowing through all the weaknesses we try to hide from Him. The only option for life is to allow the word to kill me. My flesh fights daily to pervert the truth so that it can stay alive. So the power of the gospel can give me a heart of flesh or turn my heart to stone, but it cannot be ignored.

The picture here reminds me of the dream of the Rock which falls and crushes to dust all the empires of man. If you go to the link it will become even more apropriate as it says

The good news:
Scientists will probably spot the object before it hits us.


The bad news:
Even if we get six months warning, there's nowhere to hide.

There is nowhere to hide.