The Hole In Our Gospel by Richard stearns

The Hole In Our Gospel by Rich Stearns (President of Worldvision) is a must read for all who proclaim Jesus as their Savior. I read and re-read this book and share it with anyone who is willing to listen.
This book boils the Gospel down to three main points:

• We are to Love God
• We are to Love our neighbors
• We are to go and make disciples of others who will do the same

Yet we have 3.6 billion people living on less than $2 a day. A child dies every five seconds from hunger related causes. About 25,000 people die each day of hunger or its related causes. AIDS has now left 15 million children behind as orphans.

Indeed their is a hole in our Gospel. Jesus says, "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." (Matthew 25:40)

This is a strong call to the American church to raise our awareness of the suffering in the world....and then to move and do something to help. As Rich Stearns explains:

"For most of the poorest people in the world, their hard work doesn't matter. They are trapped within social, cultural, political, and economic systems that do not reward their labor. The result of this entrenched futility is devastating to the human spirit. A person, no matter how gifted or determined, cannot escape the trap in which he finds himself. he has lost the one thing that every person needs to thrive: hope - hope that he will someday overcome his circumstances, that tomorrow can be better than today, and that his children might someday have a better life than his. Such people discover that they are in an economic and social prison from which there is no escape - unless something happens to change their circumstances and to restore the link between their effort and their reward."

Throughout the book this powerful prayer is repeated. This has become my prayer and I hope it finds a resting place in your heart as well.

"Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God."