"Preach the gospel; if necessary, use words."

From Nathan W. Bingham:

Popping up all over Twitter has been the following:

"'Preach the Gospel; when necessary use words' is like saying 'Tell me your phone number; if necessary, use digits.'"

I thought it helped show the fallacious nature of the title of this post (often attributed to Francis of Assisi) but I didn't bother posting it here as it had made the rounds and it appeared everyone was "re-tweeting" it. I also thought it was a clear "open and shut" case. It appears for many Christians it isn't.

Brian Thornton got himself in some hot water over on Facebook for posting it:

"My tweets automatically post to my FB page (thereby killing two birds with one post), and that comment has sparked a controversy over the nature of the gospel."

In one comment on Thornton's blog Scott Autry offered another analogy that may be closer to home for all those that want social-justice but aren't keen on verbally speaking the gospel:

"Feed starving children, when necessary use food."

My thoughts - preach the gospel and by God's grace don't live a life that's contrary to the gospel you proclaim. When you do miss the mark, don't justify your actions, but use it as another opportunity to proclaim the amazing grace of God. He saved even a wretch like you.

Oh, I'd ask you to comment but I'd rather you just look at my life and "know" that I'd like you to. ;-)