A Call to Urgency

"Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

-- Proverbs 24:11-12

The going philosophy of the world today is to live and let live. What everyone believes, let them believe it for themselves and let God sort it out in the end.

Reading through Revelation these last few months, though, the thought has been stabbing at my heart more and more what tragedy and agony awaits those who do not come to a right, personal relationship with Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

The only thing that separates the believer from the unbeliever is Jesus Christ. There is nothing better about the believer that makes us more deserving of paradise, or nothing worse about the unbeliever that makes them more deserving of hell.

The difference is, the believer has submitted themselves to the Lordship of the King. That's it. That's all it takes.

A free gift has been given that literally separates life or death, and it's not enough for the believer to just rest in the security of his or her future knowing a wide majority of the world either isn't aware of the gift or hasn't accepted the gift.

There needs to be an urgency in sharing Christ with those He has placed in our lives. These people, as implied in Proverbs, are drawn toward death and stumbling toward slaughter.

Scripture equally shows God as merciful and just. He is a God of Judgement as much as He is a God of Forgiveness.

People will use the excuse, "How can a loving God send anyone to hell?"

The answer is that He gives seeking hearts every opportunity to accept Him.

People will ask "What about that nomad in the heart of Africa who has never been approached with the Gospel?" All through scripture, you see God reaching out to those who had not heard of Him previously. Abraham is a prime example in Genesis. Philip being sent to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts -- Peter being called on by the centurion Cornelius too, for that matter. Even Revelation was a process of God revealing Himself and His plan to John while John had been in isolated exile on the Isle of Patmos.

The question is isn't about some hypothetical man out in the middle of nowhere. The question is about the unbeliever in the moment they are presented with the Gospel.

God doesn't wish torment on anyone, but He also will not force belief in Him. If he did, it wouldn't truly be a love relationship.

That doesn't excuse the fact that there are consequences for living against Him. Outside of the Blood of Christ, we are all condemned to death. Once we have accepted Him and repented of our sins, there is no more condemnation.

For the believer, I say do not forget what you were bound for before Christ entered your life. In that same thought, recognize that while your eternity is sealed, God has brought lost souls in need of His love into your life so that you might share with them.

It's not that we have a better way. It's that Jesus is the only way.

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"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -- John 14:6