What If?

“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 13:43 NLT)

Who are the “righteous”? Are they not those who have heard the message of the Gospel of Jesus and responded by faith? But what if no one had told them? What if they’d never heard?

We’ve all likely seen or heard about the end times stories, of the fear of wild animals, but more frightening are those who, like animals, have band together to take whatever they can find from anyone who comes across their path. The movie The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington comes to mind.

You may recall that Denzel’s character in the movie had memorized the entire Bible, yet he was blind or nearly blind. The Bible from which he memorized was in braille, which in and of itself is amazing, but the gifts the Lord gave him to fight and protect what He’d entrusted to him were equally amazing. What’s my point?

Just as the Lord entrusted a message and mission to Denzel’s character in that movie, so He has entrusted to us a message and mission as well. What is it in your life worth fighting to keep, making sure it gets to those with whom He has appointed you to share? What if we’re the only one on whose heart the Lord has laid that specific person? What if the message of Truth the Lord has entrusted to us to share doesn’t get delivered? What if they miss heaven because of our negligence?

“Yeh, but the Lord hasn’t ever told me to share my faith with anyone!” Have you never heard of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 that applies to EVERY BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER! “I thought that’s what Pastors and Missionaries and those kinds of people are supposed to do.” Yes, of course they participate in the process, but their main responsibility is to equip us to do that work. How do I know that? Because Ephesians 4:11-12 says: “Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

We often emphasize that it’s the responsibility of “the pastors and teachers… to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ”, and, of course, it is, but my sense is that it’s the responsibility of each child of God, regardless of how we’re gifted, to pass on what we know to others in the body of Christ. But why?

Because the Lord has gifted and equipped EVERY BELEIVER with special gifts and abilities through which His Spirit in us draws lost people to Himself, engages their heart and restores their life, but He won’t do that without us. That’s why He fills US with HIMSELF! Some believers remind me of mint condition old cars, filled with gas, but that are never driven. What’s the point? Yes, they look good, but they’re not going anywhere, they’re of no eternal value!

Don’t you want your life to count for the Lord? Don’t you want the balconies of heaven to be lined with people who are there because of the witness of your life and words? I sure do and I can’t help but believe you do too, or you wouldn’t be reading this. What if each of us who know and love Jesus committed time each day to laying ourselves before the Lord, allowing Him to bring to our minds and hearts the names and faces of people whose lives we could touch for Him?

Then we could listen intently as to how He would guide us in reaching out to them – via phone, text, email, cards, or perhaps even a personal visit with the specific goal of presenting to them a life and death message of salvation in Christ alone by faith alone. Let’s look at this more closely tomorrow.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊