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Loneliness for a Greater Call

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We all want to reach our world, dont we? Well, sometimes it can be very lonely. Verse 3 of the hymn Ive been sharing with you this week says, “So send I you to loneliness and longing, with hearts a-hungering for those we love and know. Forsaking kin and kindred, friend and dear ones so send I you to know my love alone. ”

There are some people who are called to remain single- and some of them are called to remain single and go to a foreign country to give the Good News of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yes there is loneliness, yes there is longing and hungering to be with those you love and know, yes you want to be with family, with friends, with dear ones, but you know, somebody has to get out there and preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I have one wife, four sons, four daughters in-law and ten grand children. And for all of our lives, weve had to be separated from each other week after week, month after month, year after year. One day we calculated wed been separated for 15 years, to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But somebody has to do it, somebody did it to bring me the Gospel down in South America, and I love those missionaries who did it.

So yes, there is loneliness, and theres longing and hungering for those we know, but in the end, the result of people going to Heaven, and knowing Jesus Christ is worth all the sacrifice and all the effort – on behalf of the one who died on the cross all by Himself.

A Demand for Sacrifice

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This week Im trying to talk to you about reaching your world, through the words of a famous old hymn, called So Send I You. Here goes verse 2, “So send I you to bind the bruised and broken, or wandering souls to work, to weep, to wake, to bear the burdens of a world a-weary, so send I you, to suffer for my sake.”

You know, witnessing for Christ is a wonderful experience- it is positive, it is joyful, and many times it brings fantastic and beautiful results. But theres one thing we must never forget. It is also a demand for sacrifice.

It is also sometimes suffering. Many a person has died physically just for sharing the Good News and the love of God in Jesus Christ. Many of us have not been physically beaten up, but we have been insulted or psychologically manipulated, or made to feel inferior, or extremist, or as some people say, a fundamentalist- just because you share the love of God and the cross of Christ, and His resurrection, and His power to change their lives. But we must be ready for that.

My mother always taught me that verse in St. John, “In the world you will have tribulations, but cheer up, I have overcome the world.”

So when you share the Good News you must be ready to expect somebody to look down their noses at you. But on the other hand Jesus Christ says, “ah, you are doing it for my sake, I love you, I will reward you.

The Lord’s Patience

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God our Father would love for everyone to believe in Jesus Christ and have eternal life. Thats His deepest desire. And Gods plan for saving souls is to enlist us Christians to be His hands, feet, and voice – lovingly drawing people to repentance and faith in Jesus. Then, God will send Jesus back to earth, bringing all believers up to Heaven with Him.

But sometimes, as year after year passes, the Lords return can seem so far away. We may feel that we have all the time in the world to share our faith. So it becomes easy to put off witnessing, until a more “convenient” time, (which rarely comes, by the way). But the Lord will come back, as He has promised. And it could be any day.

II Peter 3 says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise … He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

Our Lords patience means salvation! He is waiting to return until as many people as possible come into the Kingdom. You and I are His messengers – His ambassadors — to preach the Good News to a desperate and dying world.

Will you answer His call? Its an exciting way to live, thats for sure!

Perhaps Today

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I was taught as a little boy that Jesus is coming back someday to take His followers with Him to heaven. I think thats one of the most exciting subjects in all of the revelation of God! And Im ready to go! I know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I have tried to be faithful to His call on my life.

But we dont know when Hes coming back, do we? When the Apostles asked Jesus about His return, He said, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know.”

God has a plan that He alone knows about. Yet He asks His followers to live as if Jesus Christ could come back at any moment.

Have you ever thought about how differently you would live if you knew Jesus would return tomorrow? Would you be bolder about sharing your beliefs with your family? Would you call up your college buddies, and plead with them to give their lives to Christ?

Jesus could come back in the very next hour. That truth should motivate you and me to do everything possible to reach the people in our world with the Good News. Remember, thats freedom from sins, a joyful life here on earth, and eternity in Heaven!

A Thief in the Night

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When our family lived in South America, our home was broken into twice. Both times this happened when I was gone, and my wife was alone with our four boys. The first time the thieves took about a third of our property. The second time they took everything but the TV and filing cabinets. Nice guys!

But the thing that I resented was that the thieves didnt call me and tell me they were coming! Thieves dont have a habit of letting you know their schedule. They sneak in when you least expect them.

The Lord picks up on that idea when He talks about the second coming of Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5 says, “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”

Why will the second coming happen so suddenly, and when we least expect it? Because the Lord wants us to be ready and alert every day of our lives. He wants us to live each day with the thought that He could return at any moment.

In Matthew 24 Jesus says He will be pleased with the wise and faithful servant who, upon Christs return, is doing what he was asked to do. When Jesus comes again, He wants to find us sharing His liberating Good News with our world. The question is, is that how Hell find us?