Saturday, September 12, 2009

Ones We Were Too Late For

This is what my brother-in-law wrote on their blog. It's very good. They are missionaries in Bolivia...


A friend of mine once rushed a burning house to save a young girl inside. When asked why, he responded, “What else could I have done? She would have died.” It does not take a PhD in ethics for even a lost person to understand why that was the only right thing to do. Yet many who name the name of Christ and call themselves Christians will not lift a finger to save the thousands of souls around the world who have never heard the gospel. Why?

The picture above is of the cemetery in Qhochumi, the village we have been working in. The graves you see are filled with people who never had the chance to hear the saving message of Jesus. They died before we arrived. They died before you arrived. We praise God that the light has shone in that dark place, and Quechua men and women can be buried in hope of eternal life instead of the fear, dread, and reality of hell. But there are hundreds of more cemeteries in this area that are daily being filled with the bodies of people who have not yet heard the Gospel. And as they become dust, Satan dances. As Christians devote their energy, time, and resources to their own well-being, Satan dances. As you use your money on that nicer house, TV, church building, and not on the carrying of the Gospel message to the unreached, Satan dances. As you dedicate yourself to yourself in your job, Satan dances. As you use your God-given abilities to enrich your own circumstance while neglecting to consider how you could be useful in taking the Gospel to the unreached, Satan dances.

You see, the Gospel does not just spread by itself; it’s a task that requires effort and time. It’s not just carried by those “missionary types” who can easily pack up and move; it’s carried by normal people who painfully say goodbye to family and home. The resources needed for the task don’t just fall out of the sky; they are given sacrificially by believers who get it.

Would you, o Christian, honestly ask your Savior what you can do to help the Gospel spread across the world? Would you honestly be willing to do something? Anything? Would you hold loosely to the things of this world and pursue Him, His righteousness, and His glory? How else can we live with ourselves? How many more will we be too late for?

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

-Romans 10

1 comments:

Barbara said...

this is amazing.
i really want to do something.