Wednesday, July 1, 1998
Wednesday, July 1, 1998
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to
everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16
NRSV)
There is a story of elderly lady who was watching as a pair of golfers sliced their drives deep into
the rough. The golfers went in search of their errant golf balls. The grass was high, the trees were
thick, and tempers flared as they looked in vain through the underbrush. The elderly lady observed
all this from the front porch of her house. After the search had lasted nearly half an hour, she
finally called out to them, "I don't want to bother you men," she said, "but will it be cheating if I
tell you where the golf balls are?"
As we look around us, we see people searching for lost values, for real meaning in life, and for
hope. We must not keep silent. Fulfilling the Great Commission means sharing Jesus Christ with
those around. It means speaking up and guiding them to forgiveness and salvation.
There are too many churches with impeccable credentials for orthodox theology whose outreach
is almost nil. They are sound, but they are sound asleep. It is far too easy for the Church to
become a sort of religious clique where Christians retreat from the world.
The church on the Day of Pentecost understood that its primary mission was to reach out to the
world. The unity that they experienced and the prayers that they offered were only to help them
more ably fulfill the task that Christ had given them to make disciples of all persons. They existed
not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of a lost world.
Prayer: Dear God, may I not loose sight of helping others to know you and your love.
Amen.
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA