Do We Still Believe the Gospel Can Change Lives?

I have been wrestling with a question lately. Do we actually believe that the gospel has the power to transform lives? Or has it become something we say on Sunday mornings but fail to live out on Monday mornings?

The New Testament is filled with stories of radical transformation. Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” That is not a casual statement. That is not a religious slogan. That is a declaration of supernatural change.

But here is the tension. We say we believe it. We sing about it. We preach it. Yet do we still see it? Are we seeing marriages restored, addicts set free, broken people walking in new identity, and sinners receiving grace? Or have we quietly settled for something safer and more comfortable?

“The gospel is not advice to be followed; it is news to be believed. And when believed, it changes everything.” – Timothy Keller

Jesus Himself warned against empty religion. In Matthew 15:8, He said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” The gospel is not a set of words we repeat to sound holy. It is not a badge we wear to make ourselves feel better. It is the very power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

If we reduce it to lip service, we strip it of its weight. We make it a cultural accessory rather than a consuming fire.

This is where it gets personal. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). The church is not made up of people who have never sinned. The church is made up of sinners who have been redeemed by grace.

The question is not whether we sin. The question is whether we believe the gospel can actually meet us in our sin and change us. Do we believe it can take an angry person and grow gentleness in their heart? Do we believe it can take an addict and give them freedom? Do we believe it can take the proud and break them down into humility?

The gospel is not behavior modification. It is heart transformation. Ezekiel 36:26 says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.” That is God’s work, not ours.

I think the real issue is that we sometimes stop expecting the gospel to work. We look at people and silently think, “They will never change.” But that is not the gospel. The gospel says the dead can live again. The gospel says there is no sin too great for grace.

Maybe the problem is not that the gospel has lost its power. Maybe the problem is that we have lost our confidence in it.

So here is the question: Do we really believe the gospel can still change people today? Not just in theory. Not just as a doctrine. But in reality, in the grit and pain of everyday life.

Because if we do, then we must start living like it. We must start proclaiming it with boldness, extending it with compassion, and allowing it to transform us first.

This is where I find myself wrestling. How do we restore this in the church? I am not sure. Maybe it is just going back to the basics. Maybe it is stripping away all the noise and remembering that Jesus is enough. I do not claim to have the answers, and I am not completely sure what we are missing.

But I know this much. I am hungry for it in my life. I long to see the power of the gospel restored in the church, not just in word but in reality. I want to see the kind of transformation that only God can bring, where lives are marked by His Spirit and the world cannot help but notice.

Even now as I write this, I can feel the frustration. I want to see the power of God. I do not want to go to church and experience fluff. People are hurting. People are broken. Come, Lord Jesus, in power.

“The gospel is only good news if it brings actual change to the sinner who believes it.” – Unknown

Prayer

Lord,
We confess that we have often settled for less than Your power. We have been content with words without transformation, with appearances without depth. Forgive us.

We ask You to restore the wonder of the gospel in our lives and in Your church. Give us a fresh hunger for Your presence. Open our eyes to see lives changed by Your Spirit. Break chains, heal hearts, and draw the broken close to You.

Do not let us settle for empty religion. Bring revival in us first. Let Your gospel be more than a message we speak—make it the power that shapes everything we are.

Come, Lord Jesus, in power. We need You.
Amen.