I am very often speechless when I see how powerfully God works. Not only in the past, but in the present as well. Just look at the amazing growth of Kruispad. This clearly shows the Holy Spirit at work. We started in 2010 with 300 people whose e-mail addresses one way or another flew through my computer and then it started growing at an average of 10 000 new users per year. How wonderful – all honour to the Lord.

But how does God succeed in still making an impact today in this modern world of computers, tablets and smart phones? He uses normal people. The Lord used people to tell their friends about Kruispad and they recommended it to their friends and soon the fire gained momentum. In the computer world this is called user driven.

The spread of the gospel was and still is like that today: User driven. God can spread the gospel with enormous miracles, but He actually prefers to have his children spread the Word. Like Paul: 7This is my life work: helping people understand and respond to this Message. It came as a sheer gift to me, a real surprise, God handling all the details. 8 When it came to presenting the Message to people who had no background in God’s way, I was the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped, but you can be sure that it had nothing to do with my natural abilities.

If the people of Kruispad had decided not to tell their friends about Kruispad, there would still have been only 300 users today. Thousands and thousands of other people (maybe you too) would not have had the chance to have the gospel on their screens.

One day I got an e-mail from someone who said that he was on his way to commit suicide, when Kruispad landed on his screen “by chance” and he was brought to his senses. That is how the Lord works. And I wonder what would’ve happened had the friend of the friend of his friend’s not recommended Kruispad. I don’t even want to think about it.

I wonder what would’ve happened if Paul had not grabbed the “privilege” to spread the gospel. I wonder what would’ve happened if after Jesus’ ascension the remaining 11 disciples had returned to their old jobs and threw in the towel with regard to their faith?

Spreading the gospel is still user driven, even today. Each of us who is a “user” of the Word has a responsibility to go into the world and share it. No, more than a responsibility. A privilege. Do you realise what an amazing privilege it is to save someone’s life? It is such an enormous privilege to prevent someone from going into eternity without God.

Spreading the gospel is fired up by a whole lot of gratitude. When we truly realise what God has done for us on the cross, through Jesus, that He died there for us and for our sin, then, obviously, we can’t keep quiet! We can’t keep this wonderful news to ourselves. We want to share it. We have to.

And I do know that some people will now feel uncomfortable and think they have to leave everything behind to go and do missionary work in some obscure little place somewhere. No, God wants to use you right there where you are just like you are. Even if you are all crooked and skew and even if your words don’t run together in one smooth sentence. Look at Paul. He murdered, eradicated Christians by the hundreds. But when he ran into the living God, he had no choice, and with the power of God he turned the world upside down for God.

Now we have to take up the challenge. We who are the users of God’s grace and of the gospel. Let’s do our part and go and live a life in the world that will show everybody what they are missing out on. Let’s take God’s Word into the world. You may be the only Bible that someone will ever read.

Reflection

Is it a privilege to tell others about God’s salvation?

Do people around you experience that you are a user?

How can you do it more visibly?

Cross-references

Prayer

Lord, please give me courage, power and wisdom to make the gospel visible for the people around me. Amen