I’m reading The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Stearns served as President of Parker Brothers Games, was CEO of Lenox and is currently the President of World Vision U.S. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this has not been a “comfortable” read. I have been spiritually, emotionally and financially challenged. The Hole in our Gospel is a wake up call for all Christians, especially those of us living in the U.S. It will force you to re-examine what you believe about who God is and how you express His faith to the “least of these”.
The Hole in Our Gospel is the story of what God expects of us and how Stearns’ personally struggled to come to terms with his role in that story. He begins by outlining the purpose of the book, “The idea behind The Hole in Our Gospel is quiet simple. It’s basically the belief that being a Christian, or follower of Jesus Christ, requires much more than just having a personal and transforming relationship with God. It also entails a public and transforming relationship with the world.”
He spends some time dispelling myths that distort our view of the least of these including the ever popular, “prosperity gospel”. He highlights the popular Prayer of Jabez book which is based on 1 Chronicles 4: “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my territory!” He points out that there are those who mistakenly understand that to mean God rewards “sincere Christians with success, good health, and material prosperity.” He reminds us what happened when Paul’s territory got enlarged, John the Baptist, the disciples and countless other martyrs of the faith. Each had their territory enlarged, but not in the materialistic way we would like. “Christians get cancer, lose loved ones, and suffer financial setbacks just like everyone else. But God can also use our tragedies to expand our territory in ways that show a skeptical world a different way of live.” He goes on to say, “sometimes, in fact often, God’s blessings come through our sufferings, not through our bank accounts.”
If you turned on the news today to the headline, “One Hundred Jetliners Crash, Killing 26,500″, can you imagine how shocked you would be, how heads of state and government agencies would mobilize to understand what happened and make sure it would never happen again. There would be no other news, this would completely consume us, as well it should. Now imagine that tomorrow the same thing happened again, and the next day and the day after that. Stearns points out that it is happening–every single day, but it’s not jetliners. ”More than 26,500 children died yesterday of preventable causes related to their poverty, and it will happen again today and tomorrow and the day after that”. Why does it not bother us? He suggests that maybe it’s because it’s not our kids dying. They are somebody else’s kids.
There is so much that has challenged me from The Hole in Our Gospel that I struggle with what to include here. My plan is to write at least one more post. In the meantime, I strongly encourage you to get a copy for yourself. But more than that, I encourage you to visit the World Vision website and do what we did, sponsor a couple of children. You can also help drill a well, provide food and clothing, shelter, medical care, micro-finance, and care for the orphans and widows. Life is too short, do something today.
“To whom much is given, from him much will be required.” Luke 12:48.
I don’t know about you, but I have been given much.
How will you make your Gospel social?
