Hi there,
So in this world of entertainment we have, the gospel of Christ can sometimes be lost. Not because people want to forget the gospel, but because our relationships exist on a very shallow plane - as Jesus said "a hard field, where the birds pick and eat the grain intended for the field" (from memory, the parable of the sower). We see people on TV or read about them in books, but we do nothing for them and then forget them. Really what Jesus was doing was yearning for relationship ("how I wish the fire I came to bring was already kindled" Jesus, paraphrased), when He spoke to the woman at the well (gospels) He wanted to know why she didn't yearn for anything spiritual. Truly, Jesus sowed seed, but He also broke out of the mould to try and spread the message of the gospel, which was bringing all things together.
There is something miraculous about this: we aren't just supposed to spread the message of the gospel further, we are supposed to take it personally. Now this won't be for everyone, but for those of you who grasp the good life (three score years and ten (70)) and know what it is to commit as much as possible to something, you will be familiar with the idea of 'setting aside watch', as for the Master, but also for those whom the Master is for - for if someone brings word of the Master to us, we should be as ready as if it were for the Master Himself. The idea is, that you ask the Holy Spirit, to give you someone to suffer for, in a way that you would not suffer for anybody else. Jesus did this, in a way.
The woman that came and washed Jesus' feet with her hair and anointed Him with fragrant oil, was given a place of prominence equal to that of the gospel. There is at least one person in our lives, who ought to be cherished at least as much! The whole point of that is to move the witnessing experience, from something impersonal, to something personal. We ought to have the interests of this person in mind, maybe not all the time, but a lot of the time. We ought to be concerned with making our conduct more like Christ's, even as this person prepares us for the end, that we face. The Holy Spirit confirms that we have an end, and that we must be faithful to it, how much more earnestly does the Holy Spirit confirm that we are bringing the lost into the fold, even as our lives come to be at stake. We should be cherishing this person (above and beyond the dogma, in which we may or may not have been schooled!).
So by faith, we say "thankyou, for the life of this one for whom I am to suffer" remembering that it is "not necessary that everyone believe, but that someone does" - taking on the burdens of life and truth and way that the Lord leads us in, not only for ourselves, or only for the world, but for the one that God has chosen (with the Holy Spirit, for us). We "thank" the Lord for the suffering, the good times and the bad, the high times and the low, in sickness and in health - much like marriage, but spiritually the more consecrated, the moreso for its eternal significance. We want God to reap the fruit of this relationship, we are not dead to its meaning, the cost that is involved, just as it was for the good Samaritan (who poured on oil and wine, gave bandages and lodging, to the injured one who came into his path). We do not have the strength to complete this commitment, without God, but neither do we shy away from it for that, knowing that God is able. It should begin to burn in us, that we have a passion for the lost - the great and the small, the needy and the needless, the powerful and the weak.
I hope this has been of some edification for you. If you are the one for whom I was sent, God bless you and give you word. If you are not the one for which I was sent, enter into Heaven knowing there was a good chance someone else was sent for you. God is not ignorant, He will bless us all for our works.
God bless.
So in this world of entertainment we have, the gospel of Christ can sometimes be lost. Not because people want to forget the gospel, but because our relationships exist on a very shallow plane - as Jesus said "a hard field, where the birds pick and eat the grain intended for the field" (from memory, the parable of the sower). We see people on TV or read about them in books, but we do nothing for them and then forget them. Really what Jesus was doing was yearning for relationship ("how I wish the fire I came to bring was already kindled" Jesus, paraphrased), when He spoke to the woman at the well (gospels) He wanted to know why she didn't yearn for anything spiritual. Truly, Jesus sowed seed, but He also broke out of the mould to try and spread the message of the gospel, which was bringing all things together.
There is something miraculous about this: we aren't just supposed to spread the message of the gospel further, we are supposed to take it personally. Now this won't be for everyone, but for those of you who grasp the good life (three score years and ten (70)) and know what it is to commit as much as possible to something, you will be familiar with the idea of 'setting aside watch', as for the Master, but also for those whom the Master is for - for if someone brings word of the Master to us, we should be as ready as if it were for the Master Himself. The idea is, that you ask the Holy Spirit, to give you someone to suffer for, in a way that you would not suffer for anybody else. Jesus did this, in a way.
The woman that came and washed Jesus' feet with her hair and anointed Him with fragrant oil, was given a place of prominence equal to that of the gospel. There is at least one person in our lives, who ought to be cherished at least as much! The whole point of that is to move the witnessing experience, from something impersonal, to something personal. We ought to have the interests of this person in mind, maybe not all the time, but a lot of the time. We ought to be concerned with making our conduct more like Christ's, even as this person prepares us for the end, that we face. The Holy Spirit confirms that we have an end, and that we must be faithful to it, how much more earnestly does the Holy Spirit confirm that we are bringing the lost into the fold, even as our lives come to be at stake. We should be cherishing this person (above and beyond the dogma, in which we may or may not have been schooled!).
So by faith, we say "thankyou, for the life of this one for whom I am to suffer" remembering that it is "not necessary that everyone believe, but that someone does" - taking on the burdens of life and truth and way that the Lord leads us in, not only for ourselves, or only for the world, but for the one that God has chosen (with the Holy Spirit, for us). We "thank" the Lord for the suffering, the good times and the bad, the high times and the low, in sickness and in health - much like marriage, but spiritually the more consecrated, the moreso for its eternal significance. We want God to reap the fruit of this relationship, we are not dead to its meaning, the cost that is involved, just as it was for the good Samaritan (who poured on oil and wine, gave bandages and lodging, to the injured one who came into his path). We do not have the strength to complete this commitment, without God, but neither do we shy away from it for that, knowing that God is able. It should begin to burn in us, that we have a passion for the lost - the great and the small, the needy and the needless, the powerful and the weak.
I hope this has been of some edification for you. If you are the one for whom I was sent, God bless you and give you word. If you are not the one for which I was sent, enter into Heaven knowing there was a good chance someone else was sent for you. God is not ignorant, He will bless us all for our works.
God bless.
