This Is About You ... And Me

This Is About You …

It is often difficult when you are someone whose soul craves to communicate your thoughts and feelings in some way.  The reason it is difficult is that when you communicate your thoughts and feelings, you are opening yourself up to a vast array of hurtful criticism.  You see, the heart that you open to share from is also open to receive back.  It is a rare person who is capable of receiving your heart-felt thoughts in the way that you intended to communicate them.

You may communicate something that means a great deal to you emotionally.  It is with that heart-felt intent that you share your thoughts and feelings.  However, what you may get back in return is some very hateful and hurtful commentary that has little or nothing to do with what you communicated.  Of course, there is always a chance that you did not effectively communicate what you meant, so that’s something to keep in mind.  But the harsh criticism is inevitable, no matter how well you communicate.

My point here is a question … are you willing to risk having your heart ripped to shreds in order to share your thoughts and feelings or would you rather keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself so that you don’t have to endure the criticism?  Let me assure you, if you are someone whose soul craves to communicate something, you can no more hold those thoughts and feelings in than you can hold the sun in your hand.  They will slip out no matter what you do.  There is a price to be paid for holding them, however.  If you stifle your thoughts and feelings... those things you are driven to communicate, holding them in, it will have consequences toward who you are.  If you do that for years and years you will become depressed.  You will no longer understand who you truly are and you will lose complete perspective on what your purpose is.  I could write another article on that, but it is outside of what I am talking about right now.  Ultimately, like stagnant water, if you keep in what you are supposed to communicate, the things that eventually do come out will stink and be bitter.

I ask another question... what if you knew someone somewhere would be helped by something you communicated... would you be willing to risk being ridiculed then?  Would you risk it no matter how much you would be hurt, if you knew that what you said would make all the difference in the world to someone?  

Everyone who is a true believer in Jesus Christ has something to say, whether they want to believe it or not.  It is not just for the preacher to do or some other ministry worker.  It is also for you.  You see, we have something to communicate that every single person on this planet needs to hear and that is the story of salvation that comes through faith in Jesus.  And yet, almost no one tells anyone about it.

If every Christian in this country went out and told this wonderful message to everyone they see, most every church in this country would be completely filled every Sunday.  And yet, year after year churches in this country continue to shrink in size until eventually they close.  It is because we Christians are not telling anybody about what we know.

If all of mankind was dying of some strange illness and we were all on the verge of extinction and you come upon a pond of water that you found out would cure everyone of this illness, would you tell somebody?  Would you really?  I should think you would.  

What so many of us do not realize is that this situation is exactly what we have in the world right now.  People are dying every minute of every hour of every day of a disease called sin.  We Christians have the cure and that is Jesus.  The thing is, we’re not telling anybody.  WHY?  We know the cure for what they have, but we don’t tell anybody.  WHY?  

I used to believe that people got scared and were afraid of what someone will think of them if they speak out about Jesus.  But do you know what I have come to believe now?  The fact of the matter is, we just plain don’t care! Our hearts have become so cold that we don’t care if Aunt Jane or sister Susie or good old Uncle Buck die and go to hell for all eternity, so we say nothing.  I mean, why should I care?  I’m saved and not going to hell!  If they are going … well … that’s their problem, not mine!  Yeah, that’s right … we don’t care.

If we cared even the least little bit, we would make sure we told at least one person every day, but we don’t, because we don’t care.  “Yeah, but I’m too busy!”  Well, Jesus was pretty busy dying on the cross for you too!  Why?  Because he cared for you that much, but we don’t care.  “Well, I support missions!”  Great, you’re doing good things for those missionaries wherever they are, and what they do IS going to your account, but, what are you doing right here?  Our churches are nearly empty every Sunday and they stay that way, because we don’t care.  We should all fall on our faces before God and beg his forgiveness for our apathy and cold-heartedness!

Those of you who know me are probably upset with me right now and are thinking, “Who do you think you are Steve and what have you ever done about this?”  You know what?  I’m the main person I am writing this to.  I’ve come to realize that I didn’t care who died and went to hell.  I didn’t care who burned for all eternity.  Quite frankly, there are a number of people that I actually WANTED to go there.  What a shameful place to be and Jesus help me change and make me care again.  

Surely, there is one person you care enough about in your life, who you want to make sure that they get saved and not go to hell.  You know what, this isn’t about getting them to come to church with you so that they can hear the Gospel message.  YOU TELL THEM!!  YOU!  Don’t wait for years and trying to get them to church.  YOU TELL THEM!!!  We don’t have many years left on this earth to do that anymore, I believe … YOU TELL THEM!!!

God, please help us to care.  Help us to realize that the hour has grown late and now is the time we do what needs to be done.