Bob Goff calls Liberty students to be torchbearers of hope in Christ

Speaking to a crowd of Liberty University students, thousands of College For a Weekend guests, and parents in town for Family Weekend, New York Times bestselling author and speaker Bob Goff shared a vibrant message of being messengers of hope and faith-led love to the world in Friday morning’s Convocation.

Goff, author of “Love Does” and “Everybody, Always,” has remained a popular Convocation speaker at Liberty for more than a decade. He began Friday’s Convocation by defining the confusing world we live in today as a community trying to make its way forward in the face of tragedy, debate, and suffering. Christians’ response, Goff said, is found in Romans 5:3-4: “Suffering produces endurance, endurance turns into character, and character becomes hope.”

Goff said faith and hope found in Christ is meant to be shared with others, especially those who are suffering in their own ways, and he shared what it means to be messengers of hope.

“God is hoping that we will take Him seriously when He tells us how to do life,” Goff said. “Scripture lays it all out for us, in Matthew 25: ‘I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in, I was sick and you comforted me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was in prison and you (visited) me.’ That’s it. Your path towards God is hungry people, thirsty people, sick people, strange people, and naked people. Go find somebody that’s hurting today.”

He said instead of asking “How are you?” in casual conversation, we should ask, “What is it like to be you right now?” and “What do you want?” so we can dig deeper and seek to understand each other’s thoughts and lives. In figuratively standing on one’s toes and leaning forward, Goff said we can engage one another with the love and hope of Christ.

He said he has personally felt this during his visit to Liberty’s campus.

“I wasn’t just invited here (to Liberty); I felt welcomed from the minute I stepped foot on campus,” he said. “That is the spirit of God expressed through you. What I want us to do is not just experience that (spirit) ourselves but talk to other people (and share it). When we encounter people who are difficult … do it with kindness and respect. I want you to lean forward, not in your life, but in the lives of others and say, ‘What is it that God might be doing right now?’”

Goff said hearing the answer to that question will involve boldness without restraint, and he encouraged the students and guests to go all in.

“For those of you who are thinking about joining in this band of hope and joy, this revolution of love released into the world, I want to invite you to do that and come, but don’t come as an observer,” he said. “Don’t you dare just put your toe in the water; do a cannonball. Know what you want and do something about it.”

Like the apostles Peter and John in the book of Acts, it should be evident to strangers that those who claim to follow Christ have spent time with Him, Goff explained. Addressing Liberty students, he called them to represent Christ’s hope in the world.

“People saw Peter and John and knew they were ordinary people, but they saw their courage and could see that the two men had been with Jesus,” he said. “I want people to see your courage and be clear about it that they know you’ve been with Jesus in the way that you engage people and the way that you love people. People will trust what you say because they’ve seen how you’ve lived. You’re going to be the torchbearers, and you’re going to be the ones to release hope into the world in Jesus’ name.”