The Two Hands of The Gospel
For over 10 years of my life I worked for a missions organisation called Youth With A Mission on their medical ship, the M/V Anastasis. Alongside 350 people from over 30 nations, we worked to show people what we called the two hands of the gospel – one hand reaching up to God and the other reaching out to those in need – one hand reaching up in faith and the other hand reaching out in practice.
This time on the ship was the foundation of my belief in the importance of balancing faith and practice as it relates to God and those around us. We can’t be faith without works and we can’t be works without faith.
There is a saying that a hungry person cannot hear the Gospel when it is drowned out by the sound of an empty stomach. We must meet the felt needs of an individual before we can address the heart needs. Trying to do the reverse is to force our agenda onto someone else, instead of being prepared to sit with them for as long as it takes to show them that they are loved and cared for.
The balance between faith and practice was exampled by the life of Jesus during his ministry on Earth. Jesus said “Your sins are forgiven” then reinforce that by adding “Get up and walk”. We are truly whole when both our heart and body are healed.
I’m the first to acknowledge that I am not truly whole, and that my practice is not consistently in line with my faith, but I try, and I think that is all God asks of us.
Here are a few questions to think about:
- How is my faith balanced with my practice?
- Is my daily lifestyle (practice) congruent with my faith?
- Are there situations where it is particularly difficult to maintain this balance? (perhaps during stressful or frustrating circumstances, or when tired).
- How might I better maintain that balance in these situations?
Faith should be lived out in practice
- Even The Elect Will Be Deceived - 28 March 2026
- In Christ Daily – Day 3 - 2 November 2025
- In Christ Daily – Day 2 - 2 November 2025