Romans 9:2,3 “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.”
Paul was so desperate for the lost to be found that he was willing to make himself a curse in their place. Do I have anything like the same compassion for those around me? I fear not, but I aspire to it. As Spurgeon wrote: “When a man’s heart is so stirred that he weeps over the sins of others, he is elect to usefulness. Winners for souls are first weepers for souls. As there is no birth without travail, so is there no spiritual harvest without pain and tears. When our hearts are broken with grief at man’s transgressions, we shall break other men’s hearts. Tears of earnestness beget tears of repentance: ‘Deep calleth unto deep’.”
Many of us watched in horror as the twin towers of the World Trade Centre crumbled to pieces, killing many innocent people. Yet every day, as John Zumwalt notes, the equivalent of fourteen towers collapse as approximately 50,000 people die among the unreached of our world without ever having heard of Jesus; and Jesus watches them with the same horror that we felt on 11th September 2001. He pleads with us to wake up from our own slumber and wake others up so that we address these issues with urgency instead of casual indifference.
Does the above stir you, or leave you indifferent? Zumwalt’s comments relate to the whole wide world, but how about the neighbours down your street, the colleagues you work with, guys at the club, family members? All of those we interact with who are lost – some happily so but others aching for meaning and purpose – they need us to get over our own apathy, indifference or fear, and take Jesus to them. Let’s do it!
Lord, forgive us for looking at the world with dry eyes. Use us today, for your glory. Amen!
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