Does That Even Make Sense?
By: Kristen L. McNulty
Reprint rights available on request. Email the author at kristenmcnulty@hotmail.com.
Picture the city that you live in, the community you call home. Chances are that it, like most communities, has some problems right now. We have neighbors in our own cities and towns who are struggling with all kinds of issues. Children experiencing abuse. Families being torn apart. People struggling with mental health challenges and suicidal thoughts. Not to mention, homelessness, addictions, substance abuse, the list goes on and on. And while there are many different causes on paper as to why these struggles exist, all of them have something in common: people have lost hope and they’ve lost the light.
A Gift Meant To Be Shared
You and I have been given an incredible gift. We’ve been introduced to the light in the darkness, Jesus, and His love and His light has changed absolutely everything in our lives. He’s taken the trauma we’ve faced in our lives and brought healing. He’s given us purpose and a future. He plucked us out of our worst and into His best. But there is a world of people out there who need Him but have never been introduced to Him. Are you willing to be the one to make that introduction?
It shouldn’t even be a question but it is. It’s a fact that in a typical church, twenty percent of the people are doing eighty percent of the work. Meaning that across our countries, one church after another is running short handed and without the people on the ground needed to truly make a difference. But we have the power to change that. Could you just imagine what our communities would look like if our churches were filled with people willing to serve? The hungry would be fed, the broken would be healed, the hopeless would find hope, the darkness would be chased away by light. Just think about the incredible impact we could be making but we aren’t because we’d selfishly rather spend our time on anything other than serving. Does that even make sense? You and I know God doesn’t call us to live this way, but somehow we are okay settling for it. It’s so backwards and it’s a telling sign that satan's schemes to keep us busy with everything but church and ministry are working. And it’s a clever scheme because by keeping less and less of us serving, his darkness is spreading faster than Jesus’ light is being illuminated. Again I ask, does that even make sense? Are you okay with that? Am I?
Busyness Is Not An Excuse
The message of the Bible isn’t to believe and then enjoy everything the world has to offer to the fullest. Or to receive the Gospel but use the church as nothing more than a social. The message of the Bible is to believe and then obey what the Bible says. And it doesn’t say God gets that you are busy, so it’s okay for you to do nothing or little. The Bible does say:
So be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Ephesians 5:15-17
God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11
For "Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved." [14] But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? [15] And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!" Romans 10:13-15
If We Don't Do It, It Doesn't Mean Someone Else Will
There’s a world of people outside of our church doors who are living in darkness and hopelessness and are desperately in need of being introduced to Jesus. And before you come up with the excuse that someone else will do it, let me tell you someone else is not. Stats from Lifeway Research have told us that "Only 3 in 10 unchurched Americans say a Christian has ever shared with them one-on-one how a person becomes a Christian."
Source: Lifeway Research.
3 in 10. That means there is a world full of people who desperately need the message that we have to offer. Someone once shared the Gospel with us and our lives were forever changed because of it. We need to share that same gift with others. In the words of David Platt, "Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell." Blunt, but true.
We could spend the rest of our lives here on earth wasting them, passing up one opportunity after another to share Christ’s love with those we come into contact with. Or we could take our faith seriously, get to know what the Bible has to say about how we should be living, and then choose to live it out day by day, moment by moment. Knowing it won’t be easy, but knowing that the only way those who are walking in darkness will see the light is if someone like you or me chooses to shine it in their direction.
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