Thursday, October 28, 2010
We Have to Care
My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. —Romans 9:2-3
Why is it that Christians don't share the gospel? Is it because we are afraid we may not have the right answers? Perhaps. Is it because we don't know where to start? Maybe. Is it because we think we may get shut down? It could be. But maybe we don't care enough.
I suggest that one of the reasons we don't share the gospel is because we don't necessarily care that much about lost people. Only one in 20 Christians have ever shared the gospel with another person, and only one in 10 think they should. A study by researcher George Barna found that only half of the people in American churches today can even articulate the gospel.
D. L. Moody, the great evangelist, once said, "Winners of souls must first be weepers of souls." Preacher and evangelist George Whitfield said, "Lord, give me souls or take away my soul." The idea is that we have to care.
After Jonah reluctantly preached to the people of Nineveh, he sat down outside the city and waited to see what would happen. He sat in the blazing sun, just hoping that God would still destroy Nineveh. God graciously provided a large, leafy plant to grow over Jonah, which provided him with some shade. But early the next morning, a worm came and ate the plant. Jonah was so upset about losing the plant that he wanted to die. But God told him, "You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" (Jonah 4:10).
If we are ever going to be used by God to reach out to people, then we have to care.
Copyright © 2010 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
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