Recently in our grow group two members shared stories of Christians who went to church but weren’t very concerned about inviting anyone else. One was a story about a family, all dressed up, trying to take a picture outside their house on Easter Sunday. A neighbor saw them and asked if he could help. After snapping the picture and finding out why they were so dressed up and where they were going, he wondered why they never asked him to go with them.
Many of us miss opportunities to invite people to come hear about Jesus. I also believe Satan provides many activities (not all bad) that keep us busy and more importantly keep us from sharing and taking Jesus to our community and to the nations. He is good at this, especially in this country.
All this reminds me of something I read recently. Many years ago an atheist wrote a letter mocking Christians who said that Jesus in the only way to heaven but did nothing to share his news with others. Here is the letter:
If Christ was God and died for me, there is nothing that would be too much to do for Him. If I believed with conviction what millions say they believed, that the knowledge and practice of religion was everything to me, I would throw from me like a weight every worldly pleasure; I would esteem every worldly consideration as insanity and every worldly thought as vanity. My faith would be my first thought in the morning and my last image before I fell asleep; I would work only for the cause, think only in eternity, and esteem every soul won for heaven as the greatest value, even if it meant a life of suffering. No earthly consequence would detain me or quiet my lips; the joys of the world or its sorrows would not even occupy a single moment of my thoughts. I would focus only on eternity and the immortal souls that are around me and destined for eternal misery. I would go to the world and preach in season and out of season, and my text would be: ‘What does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’
His words are convicting and ring with an almost impossible level of commitment. But he has a point! Many are lax in their Christianity and tend to make excuses that prevent their participation in the mission of God. I think many times we are like Moses when God invited (told) him to go back to Egypt. Moses doubted and offered many excuses. His first one may be the most important one for many of us. Who am I? How you answer that question will determine whether you go anywhere for God or whether you refuse. So, who am I? Here are just a few important truths that reveal my true identity. I am an adopted and beloved son (daughter) of God who belongs to Him, made righteous through Jesus, empowered by His Spirit, an heir of God and chosen by Him as an ambassador to declare His praises and glory. If I often say and dwell on some of those truths then my life will be transformed, excuses fade away. As for Moses, he finally agreed to go and ended up taking his wife and young family across the desert (on a donkey) back to Egypt.
We thank God for his grace when we make excuses and fall short in this area, but let us encourage each other to renew our zeal for Him and the commission that he is given each of us.
However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me–the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. Acts 20:24
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