If Your Gospel Be Hid
“ But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost ” (2 Cor 4:3 - KJV)
What a powerful statement the Apostle Paul made to the believer's in Corinth! In fact, the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians is a very powerful chapter to every believer and every Church. It deals directly with the power of God that should manifest in our lives.
In fact, Paul boldly proclaims in verse seven that by God's design He deposited a valuable gift within earthen vessels for the purpose of allowing the power of God to be seen.
As a human being you may have a tendency to look at your “earthen vessel” and come to the conclusion that you can't do much for the Lord. Maybe you think you don't have enough education, or that you don't have enough money, or that you can't speak very eloquently. But if you take to heart the Word of God you will see that is exactly what God wants – someone incapable of doing it themselves so that God can receive all the glory.
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As believers we should all be concerned about the gospel that the lost sees in us. Because if I don't let my gospel be seen it won't be hid from you as another believer, but will be hid from someone who is lost.
If you do a study of the original Greek word that is translated “gospel” you will find that it literally means, “good news”. We, as believers, have good news. We have an expected end according to Jeremiah 29:11 and we have a God who always causes us to triumph according to 2 Corinthians 2:14. How we display that good news in the community around us is critical to the lives of those who do not know Christ.
I want you to catch the importance of our lives as individuals and that of our churches. Let's take a closer look at what Paul stated, “(3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them .” Then in verse six, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Those who are lost are lost because the god of this world has blinded them, but by the design of God His light can shine to them through us. Notice verse six states that God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:8, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” We are that darkness that God command the light to shine out of. When an unbeliever sees someone who previously was in the same condition they are presently in, but now lives a life reflecting good news they are now able to see that which they were once blinded to.
Don't ever think that your life or your church is anything less than a lighthouse designed by God for the revealing of His divine nature to those who are lost. Let us not let our gospel be hid so that all can have the opportunity to be saved.