There are moments in life that drive us toward awareness.
Maybe you are able to spend a refreshing weekend away with friends, and you were overwhelmed with the awareness of the impact that good friends have on your life. Maybe you have enjoyed a life of good health until a doctor delivered you some difficult news, and in that moment you were faced with the awareness that you are not unbreakable. Maybe you were able to get to bed early one night and to follow it up with sleeping late through the next morning, and as you woke up feeling like a different person, you were faced with the awareness that you need more rest in your life. Maybe you recently came back to church for the first time in years and you left feeling convicted, encouraged, built-up, and excited that you went. As you left, you were hit with the awareness of how much God uses the church to impact your life.
What ever the situation may be, that moment of awareness seems to snap its fingers in our face to wake us up to a reality that we are overlooking.
Here is an even better example of what I mean. Candace and I took a ministry trip to the beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado for a conference. And, I mean beautiful. The neighborhoods, the shopping centers, and all of the business building are sitting at the base of the beautiful Rocky Mountains, including the highest peak, Pike’s Peak itself. Just stunning! As residents of Texas, we just don’t have that type of scenery.
The conference was held in a church that sat at the foot of Pike’s Peak. As we walked in we were warmly greeted and welcomed, and I remember asking one of the volunteers, “What is it like to live with Pike’s Peak in your back yard?”
I will never forget her response. She said, “You get used to it. I don’t even notice it anymore.” As she said that, she looked up and for a moment she took in the splendor of the mountain through the window. After a moment she said, “It is good to stop and take it all in every once and a while.”
That was a moment of awareness… Nothing changed in her surroundings. Only her awareness.
As Christians, we can become a lot like this women. We spend our lives in and around the gospel message. We know the truths, we have heard the story, and over time what once was immensely beautiful can become completely ordinary. I have heard this referred to as “gospel amnesia.”
We are prone to forget.
We are prone to forget the wonder.
We are prone to make the beautiful ordinary.
This is why those moments in a church service can be so powerful… It is because God is using those moments with His people to create awareness of who He is.
This is why those moments in His Word can be so powerful… It is because God is using those moments to create awareness of who He is.
This is why those moments in nature can be so powerful… It is because God is using those moments in His creation to create awareness of who He is.
In other words, the cure for Gospel-Amnesia is Gospel-Awareness.
This is why I believe that one of the most important habits that you can have as a follower of Christ is to develop a daily rhythm that includes regular and intentional moments of gospel awareness. If you don’t have something like this in your life, let me share something that I do. Everyday (ok, well almost every day), I keep a journal. In this journal, every day I answer the same question. It is a really simple and important question…
How has the gospel impacted my life in the past 24 hours?
I was surprised at how much this has served as a daily moment of awareness in my life. I encourage you to try it, and let me know if it impacts you the way it has impacted me.
I believe that Gospel-Amnesia can be effectively treated with steady and consistent doses of Gospel-Awareness. A simple treatment with a huge impact.