How much do we really care?

As we plug along through our busy schedule, day after day, do we stop to think about the fact that it’s all only temporary after all? Most of us would say that, “Yes, we do,” but I must confess that all too often I find myself getting too caught up in the here and now. I am speaking specifically about how we deal with the people we see and meet throughout the day, and even those we find ourselves stuck behind in traffic. Do we go through life focused on me and mine, ignoring, or at least trying to ignore the world around us? Do we stand in frustration as we wait in line at the supermarket, or do we see the line as individuals, and find in the line an opportunity to share a gospel tract with someone.

Often as I watch a football game or a hockey game, I will look at the crowd and wonder how many of them are saved. How many of them have heard the gospel? It is sobering to realize, as you look at the screen and see this huge mass of people, that you can take the average football stadium and fill it, then fill two more alongside it and that is how many people pass into eternity every day. The gravity of the situation should mobilize every Christian into urgent, zealous evangelism, but most contemporary believers are so apathetic that the thought never even crosses our minds. How can we sit idly by, delighting our souls with the fatness of fellowship, prayer, and Bible study, and never consider the plight of the world around us?

If we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, then we should be the fishers of men he has called us to be. There is a real battle going on in spiritual realms for the soul of every single human being on the planet. God has given you and I the ministry of reconciliation, and has given us all the weapons we need to have victory in the spiritual warfare we are engaged in. Will you take up the Sword of the Spirit, and shod your feet witht the preparation of the gospel of peace? Will you answer the comission of the Captain of our salvation and go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature?

He may not be calling you to world-wide travel, but He is calling you to go next-door. I know it is difficult to step out in faith and open your mouth for the kingdom of God, but let compassion for those you intend to reach swallow your fears, as you think about where they will end up without Christ. If they don’t repent and trust the Savior, then they will be judged according to their works and face the punishment they deserve.

How can we go day after day, consumed with our own ways, when eternity is hanging in the balance for those around us? Let us keep an eternal perspective in all we do and in all places we go, and make sure we are leaving behind the fragrance of Him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. Just as we hear the expression, “He sees the world through rose-colored glasses”, as believers we should see the world throught the eyes of eternity, while we look not at the things which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but look to the things which are unseen, for the things which are unseen are eternal.

Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap into hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned or unprayed for.”