Worthy of the Gospel
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Philippians 1:27a
It is the apostle Peter’s advice to the married persons of his time that they should walk as becomes the gospel of Christ, that those who were without might be won to embrace the Christian religion by seeing and observing their pious conversation coupled with fear. What the apostle presses on married persons we find elsewhere enjoined on each member of the church. We are commanded by the Lord to let our light shine before men, and so to glorify our Father who is in heaven. Paul tells us to redeem the time; that is, to embrace every opportunity to do others good. But, alas, those who do not live such Christian lives and who yet profess the truth are so far from gaining converts to Christ. For how can it be expected that infidels should honor our God when Christians themselves despise him? Or that any should embrace our religion when professors make so light of one of its strictest commands? No, to our grief and shame be it spoken; it is by these impieties that our religion has become a by- word among the heathen; that the sacred authority of Jesus and his doctrine is despised, and God’s name blasphemed among the Gentiles. These cannot but be sad stumbling blocks and offences in the way of our godly living. We may say of them as our Lord did of Judas: “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Matt. 26:24); or, “I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom than for you” (Matt. 11:24).
*Excerpted from George Whitefield Daily Readings, p. 291 (Christian Heritage, 2010).
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