Christian Living

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The Lord has recently chastised me about the lack of compassion in my life. I argued with God, of course, because I know that I feel those pains of compassion when I see someone in need. Indeed I have written a short article on the subject, titled “Christian Love”. I thought I must have been hearing from the devil and so I almost ignored the voice in my spirit. Then the Lord told me what He meant by my “lack of compassion”. I rarely tell anyone of Christ; at least in the way of personally witnessing to them of the love He has for us. Although I tell people of Him, what His Word means to me, and invite them to church, almost without thinking, I was uncomfortable with sitting down and witnessing to them. I had really bought into the idea of “loving them in”.

When we see a person that we know to be lost, our first instinct should always be to show that person the love of Christ. Now, many people would have you think that the love I’m referring to is to feed them, clothe them, visit them and then leave them. All of these things we should do, but the first thing that should come from our lips is the gospel, or “good news”, of Christ. We should never leave a lost person without sharing the knowledge of Christ with them. That goes against the “love them into the fold” notion, but, friends, we don’t have time for that nonsense. The Lord will be back, and very soon. We need to “be about the work of (our) Father.” When did Jesus ever speak to anyone that He did not tell him or her of the Kingdom of God, or of a Hell that we should avoid? You may find an example, but if you do look at the response of the person. Almost every example I can find either knew afterwards or knew beforehand that Jesus was the Messiah, or Christ, by revelation from God. So even in those cases the knowledge of salvation was given to the person. Since we are not the Saviour, we should make sure that not one person’s blood is on our hands and tell them of Jesus. When we leave a lost person without sharing with them the knowledge of Christ, we have failed the great commission that Christ gave us. And if that person goes to Hell, we have the blood of their soul on our hands.

I do not enjoy telling you these things, but I was given a gift from God, the talent to write. That talent must be used for His glory, or I will have wasted the opportunity to serve Him. I have missed a number of opportunities that I could have used to tell someone that is not saved about the love of Christ. In fact, there have been times when the Holy Spirit prompted me and I invited them to church. Feeling good about what I had done, I almost completely ignored what the Holy Spirit was telling me. I am now determined to share the knowledge of Christ whenever I find a lost soul. I won’t just invite them to church. I realized that by doing that I was putting the responsibility off on the Pastor. Christ called all Christians to make disciples of every nation. He wanted every Christian to preach the Gospel to every creature. We are all called to be evangelists to the lost. When was that calling removed? It never has been removed. The Word of God says that a call from God cannot be repented of. I am not saying that we should all take to the road or the pulpit. I am trying to show you that you, the reader, have a personal responsibility to share the Kingdom of God with every lost person that you know.

I remember the days when churches got together one evening a week to go into a community knocking on doors and evangelizing to the people. This was the laymen and women of the church, not the pastors. I remember a time when people had a desire to see the lost come to salvation. I’m not talking about new church members, but a real drive in the hearts of the saints to bring somebody to Christ. People felt they had failed to accomplish anything for the week if at least one person did not come to Christ through them. What has happened to those Christians? Many of them are sitting in churches right now and feel that they have done all they can for God, it’s time for the next generation to do their part. And I agree it is time for the next generation to take up the task, but with the leadership of those old saints. When I begin to feel that I have accomplished all that I ever will I hope that God either rebukes me or takes me home. I want God to give me something new to do before I finish the task at hand.

I hope that all of you, before you throw this out as trash, will think about the things that God has lain on my heart. He works in me and through me. I only obey. I hope that you will do the same.

Until the Lord’s return, remember His last command before He was taken into heaven.



©2003 J. Thomas LaCroix

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