People often make something over the number of soldiers killed in a war. They make a point when the number makes the news. They are silent when wars take one person at a time. They wait to make a big deal when it reaches a certain number. They fail to recognize that it isn't when the media finally raise their heads to the number but it becomes politically correct to make some recognition. Then, we want to do something. Then, we want to help the families. Then, we bow our heads and pray.
We fail to acknowledge that it is always about one and not the many. Those families who have lost one person in a war are just as devastated if there was no other person killed. They are just as affected and we make a big deal about the number and not just the one.
You can understand why people are not concerned about the neighbor who is going to hell either. We talk in terms of millions who will go to hell and never talk about the one. We ask how many are being baptized and do not get excited about the one. We design programs to reach multitudes without considering the one. Therefore, we let the one go to hell.
I heard someone tell me that the preacher asks one of his members if he would give $100,000 if he received $1 million. The member said "Yes." Then, the preacher asked if he would give $10,000 if he received $100,000. The member again said "Yes." Then, the preacher asked if he would give $1000 if he received $10,000. The member said, "Wait a minute preacher, you know I make more than $10,000!"
You see, a person could reach one other person with the gospel but would rather talk about the millions because that allows him to abdicate his responsibility. What can he do to reach millions? He could do a lot to reach one.
I am always dismayed when we pay such close attention to the multitude of soldiers who have lost their lives when we haven't paid attention to the one. I am always dismayed when we speak of those millions who have not come to Christ when we have never shared the love of Christ with our neighbors.
Please remember, you can't do everything and don't try. Do what you can do. It is always about the one.
Ezekiel 33:7-9 (ESV) 7 “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.
2 comments:
Such is always a timely reminder, just as the word on the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few, is holding true, even to today, and in the many days to come, even though Jesus said of it more than 2,000 years ago.
Superbly put too, by you, Prentis. May God uses it to move more than a few hearts. Amen. Anthony Chia, high.expressions
I normally do NOT criculate this, but I just read it in my email, just after I have read your entry, and had left the earlier comment. It is such a heart-warming story (I abbreviated it to fit the allowed space):
Every Sunday afternoon, after church service, a Pastor and his 11 year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts.
This particular afternoon, as it came time for them to go, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest clothes and said, 'OK, dad, I'm ready.'
His Pastor dad asked, 'Ready for what?'
'Dad, it's time we gather our tracts together and go out.'
Dad responds, 'Son, it's very cold outside and it's pouring rain.'
The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, 'But Dad, aren't people still going to Hell, even though it's raining?'
Dad answers, 'Son, I am not going out in this weather.'
Despondently, the boy asks, 'Dad, can I go? Please?'
His father hesitated for a moment then said, 'Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful son…'
After two hours of tract-giving in the rain, the boy was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his VERY LAST TRACT. He looked for someone to hand the tract to, but the streets were totally deserted.
Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the door bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer. Finally, the boy turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the front porch! He rang again and this time the door slowly opened.
Standing in the doorway was a very sad-looking elderly lady. She softly asked, 'What can I do for you, son?' With radiant eyes and a smile that lit up her world, this little boy said, 'Ma'am, I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I just want to tell you that * JESUS REALLY DOES LOVE YOU * and I came to give you my very last Gospel Tract which will tell you all about JESUS and His great LOVE.' With that, he handed her his last tract.
Well, the following Sunday in church Pastor Dad was in the pulpit. As the service began, he asked, 'Does anybody have testimony or want to say anything?'
Slowly, in the back row of the church, an elderly lady stood to her feet. As she began to speak, a look of glorious radiance came from her face, 'No one in this church knows me. I've never been here before. You see, before last Sunday I was not a Christian. My husband passed on some time ago, leaving me totally alone in this world. Last Sunday, being a particularly cold and rainy day, it was even more so in my heart that I came to the end of the line where I no longer had any hope or will to live. So I took a rope and a chair and ascended the stairway into the attic of my home. I fastened the rope securely to a rafter in the roof, then stood on the chair and fastened the other end of the rope around my neck. Standing on that chair, so lonely and broken-hearted I was about to leap off, when suddenly the loud ringing of my doorbell downstairs startled me. I thought, 'I'll wait a minute, and whoever it is will go away.'
I waited and waited, but the ringing doorbell seemed to get louder and more insistent, and then the person ringing also started knocking loudly...
I thought to myself again, 'Who on earth could this be? Nobody ever rings my bell or comes to see me.' I loosened the rope from my neck and went to answer the door.
You see-- -I am now a Happy Child of the KING. Since the address of
your church was on the back of this Gospel Tract, I have come here to personally say THANK YOU to God's little angel who came just in the nick of time and by so doing, spared my soul from an eternity in hell..'
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