“You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.” ~ Paul in II Timothy 4:3-5

In the past, I’ve written about my background and my upbringing in Fundamentalism and the legalism that went along with it. Over the last few years, God has shown me what it truly means to live for Him, in complete and total freedom. As odd as it may sound, this new found freedom in Christ has been a difficult one to simply accept. It’s been a constant battle of the heart and mind, of distinguishing the difference between conscience and true conviction. It’s a battle I face constantly.

Once God opened my eyes, He allowed me to see just how large His kingdom really is. The body of Christ is so much larger, looks and sounds so different than the narrow minded view I once had. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know so many pastors and ministry leaders who are seeking to change how we, as the ‘church’ relate to the world around us.

I believe this change is desperately needed. I also believe God inspired Paul to write these words to Timothy as a warning to us all—knowing that we would become focused on the package of the message, rather than the message itself.

Is there anything wrong with presenting the Gospel in a cool, hip or trendy way? Absolutely not.

Can we become distracted and go overboard with our presentation? Absolutely.

I think making God’s message ‘relate-able’ is both necessary and dangerous because we run the risk of watering the Message down so much that we’ve created a wishy-washy mess, so to speak, and void the Message of its power. I believe God can use anything and everything to bring the lost to Himself. He turned the water into wine, He can turn our half-hearted effort of sharing the Gospel into an explosion of His grace. I just found this passage in Timothy to be a poignant reminder of the responsibility we have in sharing His truth and “keeping the Message alive”.

Right now, my little 10-month old son is enthralled with the wrapping paper on the presents underneath the Christmas tree. He could care less what’s inside the box. What about you? Do you find yourself focusing more on the package than on the gift itself? I know I do.