Welcome to the GospelEffort

November 8, 2025•967 words

What Is the GospelEffort?

The GospelEffort is a social-media project with a message for Christians to be salt and light in this world as a response to a deep awareness of God’s love for us and a clear understanding of the gospel.

Jesus says in Matthew 5 that we are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, so that others may “see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.”

If you desire to live as salt and light in this world, or if you want to understand the gospel more deeply, I invite you to join the GospelEffort community—https://lp.gospeleffort.com or just follow me here or anywhere else for more GospelEffort content.

What It Means to Be Salt and Light

For me, being salt and light means:

  • Family: To show my spouse and my kids through how I spend my time that I love them.
  • Work: Doing my job as if God Himself were my employer—with integrity, excellence, and a desire to honor Him in how I work.
  • The Church: Showing that I love the body of Christ by building up fellow believers, encouraging them, and serving them.
  • My Own Body: Caring for my body in a way that shows that it is the temple of God.
  • The World Around Me: Seeking to affect change in the world through what I post on social media and how I interact with the government and other public institutions.

In essence, it is, to love God, as much as I am able, with all my heart, soul, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself in every area of life.

Why Be Salt and Light?

1 John 4:19 says, *“We love because he first loved us.”

How did God love us? John 3:16 puts it like this:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

And Romans 8:32 adds:

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

God showed His love by giving us Jesus—and with Jesus, He gave us everything. In response we love God, and try to follow what Jesus said in John 14:15:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

But What Does It Mean to Be Given Jesus?

To be given Jesus means:

  • I am adopted into God’s family.
  • The Holy Spirit dwells in me.
  • The wages of sin—death—are taken away.
  • I am given eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
  • I will live forever in relationship with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and with all believers.
  • One day I will live in the new heaven and new earth, where, as Revelation 21:4 says, there will be no more pain, death, sorrow, or crying.

The present and future reality promised to all who are in Christ.

Why I Need Jesus

All of this raises the question: Why do I need Jesus in the first place?

The answer: I am a sinner, and I am unable to make myself righteous.

Romans 3:23–24 says:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:22 says:

“The Scripture imprisoned everything under sin,
so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ
might be given to those who believe.”

Even our righteousness doesn't measure up. Isaiah says:

'We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. ' Isaiah 64:6

Instead God demands perfection. Romans 1:18 says:

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…”

And Jesus himself says in Matthew 5:48:

“You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

That standard—perfection—exposes the problem: I am not perfect, and I cannot make myself perfect. No amount of works, effort, spirituality, or moral improvement can remove the stain of sin on my life..

That is why I must rely entirely on Jesus, the only one who is perfect.

2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it this way:

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Jesus takes my sin; I receive His righteousness.

The Gospel: The Power of God for Salvation

To recap:

  • We are called to be salt and light in this world.
  • The reason we should be salt and light is because of the love that God has for us.
  • God shows His love through the gospel—the good news of who Jesus is and what He has done—which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

The GospelEffort flows from this understanding: that resting in the gospel is what fuels a life of genuine effort—effort that is a response to grace, not a way to earn it.

An Invitation

If you desire to live as salt and light in this world, or if you want to understand the gospel more deeply, I invite you to join the GospelEffort community—https://lp.gospeleffort.com or just follow me here or anywhere else for more GospelEffort content.

https://gospeleffort.com - GospelEffort website
https://www.facebook.com/gospeleffortpage - Facebook
https://www.instagram.com/gospeleffort/ - Instagram
https://substack.com/@gospeleffort - Substack
https://www.youtube.com/@gospeleffort - YouTube
https://x.com/gospeleffort - X