I want you to reflect with me: have you lived the gospel of fashion or the gospel of God’s way?

Although some try to mix the two, they are completely different. The difference is not in the appearance, but in the intention.

When fashion invades faith:

First of all, I’m not talking about dressing well or getting ready with decency. That’s not the problem. The issue is the vanity behind fashion – the need to impress and improve one’s own image in front of others.

Fashion only exists because there is an audience. It depends on other people’s perception. And when this mentality enters the spiritual life, the “trend gospel” is born: do good to be seen, help to be recognised, serve to be applauded.

This is what the Lord Jesus warned in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6. He taught that those who do good deeds to be seen have already received their reward – human recognition – and, therefore, lose the reward that comes from God.

The hand that gives can’t demand

Jesus also said that the left hand should not know what the right does. In other words, you can’t give, already waiting for a reward.

This is the natural tendency of the human being: to help and then think, “you owe me one”. But God’s way is different. He teaches us to give without expecting anything in return, trusting that the Father, who sees in secret, publicly rewards.

God’s reward does not compare to the applause of men.

The gospel that saves is not comfortable

Now pay attention: the gospel of God was not announced to please us, but to save us.

And salvation involves sacrifice, renunciation and, often, pain. In the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle Paul talks about presenting the body as a living, holy and acceptable sacrifice to God – a reasonable, not emotional service.

The gospel needs to please God, not people.

In the sermon of the beatitudes, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus called happy those who cry, the humble, the persecuted, those who are hungry and thirsty for justice. That is, happiness according to God is the opposite of the logic of the world.

Fashion or God’s way?

• The gospel of fashion seeks applause.
• The gospel of God’s way seeks salvation.
• The first one feeds the ego.
• The second transforms our nature.

Therefore, many sympathise with the gospel, but few really convert. The gospel that pleases God often confronts, hurts and demands surrender.

Still, this is the one that saves.

So, don’t look at the majority. Look at the Word. Long live the gospel that pleases the Father – even if it displeases men. Because, in the end, the only reward that really matters comes from the Heavenly Father.

https://www.universal.org/renato-cardoso/post/o-evangelho-da-moda-ou-o-evangelho-do-modo-de-deus/