A very striking message this past Sunday. It was about focusing on presenting the gospel: witnessing to others. The direct, spoken variety, not the indirect living-testimony type or “outreach” — there’s a time and place for that too, but honestly, a lot of times it’s simply something we hide behind.
The speaker talked about the first step, the reason we don’t witness: we do not feel true compassion for the lost. We don’t care that a person is going to Hell.
Think about that for a second.
Eternal suffering. Unending suffering. The deepest suffering. The deepest despair. All hope truly lost. The bygones truly all gone. All intentions having become regrets. God truly unreachable and having left you to your own sinful self. He is truly dead to you.
Let be Honest, Now
We don’t pray for others because we truly don’t love them. We truly don’t care for them or about them. We don’t care what happens to them or where they’re going.
I admit, this is why I have a lot of trouble praying for the world at large, or even my nation or my nation’s leaders on a regular basis and meaningfully. No, the times when someone tells you to or when it’s a special day to count for nought. No, I don’t say so: God says so.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
— 1 Corinthians 13:1–3
9 Comments
August 12, 2008 at 12:10 am
Outreach is not synonymous with evangelism (HT: PK).
August 12, 2008 at 2:56 am
Even though we as humans may not be able to love others the way we love ourselves — because we tend to become foolish and selfish creatures — God’s love is unsurpassable (Romans 8:38–39).
As an aquaintance once told me, prayer is only a petition to God, and ultimately, God is the One who solves everything and touches hearts. We first need to find love through God before we can love others. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 may be helpful in context of your concern. May He lift your burdens and hold you high in your spirit!
August 13, 2008 at 1:04 am
your post reminds me of that scene in the stranger where a bunch of old ladies are sitting around a dead person, and the author observes that they appear so caught up in their own thoughts they’re oblivious to the dead lady in front of them
August 13, 2008 at 10:43 am
Pika wrote a post including this point once, and I agreed with him then. Unfortunately, I still agree.
August 15, 2008 at 1:28 am
Lue-Yee, noted and clarified in the post. Good referenced site as well.
I’ve always understood the difference, but the speakers message lumped both outreach and evangelism under the umbrella of making disciples.
Outreach typically comes before presenting the gospel. At least, the acceptance of the gospel.
After all, even the disciples were shown Jesus’ love and compassion for the lost before they were presented the gospel (first-hand).
September 6, 2008 at 12:14 am
[...] Ever eaten a salt packet. It’s pretty disgusting. Makes you want to gage. How about that for a more forceful push to get out there and care about the lost. [...]
September 16, 2008 at 11:07 pm
[...] too long ago, I wrote a post surmising that, as Christians, we don’t pray for our non Christian friends because we simply don’t [...]
September 24, 2008 at 11:27 pm
[...] Ever eaten a salt packet? It’s pretty disgusting. Makes you want to gag. How about that for a more forceful push to get out there and care about the lost? [...]
October 15, 2008 at 4:53 pm
[...] most us have the opposite problem, having people to help and not doing it, we still need to examine our motivations for heling people: people-pleasing and a sense of [...]