Develop a Love for the Lost

The following is an excerpt from Sharing Christ When You Feel You Can't.

Develop a Love for the Lost When I came to the Lord, I desired to love the world like God does. But I soon realized that you can't create a love for people on your own. It's easy to get worked up about the condition of the unsaved and feel love for them-until we get on the freeway and some car cuts us off. Then our love for the lost flies out the door as we shake our fist at the unskilled driver.

A love for the lost has to come from God. We can't fake it or create it. I remember wrapping my arms around a globe we used to have in our house and praying, "God, give me a love for the lost. I want to have a love like Yours for the world."

Evangelism is a normal expression of our Christian faith. So if a desire to witness is lacking, we need to cultivate our relationship with God.

Have you ever tried to share Christ with someone when absolutely nothing is happening in your spiritual life? I was sitting on a plane one time talking with a fellow passenger, and the perfect opportunity arose to talk about the Lord. But I had nothing to share because my life right then was so dead spiritually.

Psalm 63:8 (KIV) says, "My soul followeth hard after thee." This implies an intense desire to know God, which is what we need if we are going to be effective in our witness for Christ. Knowing God takes strenuous exertion or discipline. Spend time getting to know Him through reading and studying the Bible. Knowing God also takes perseverance. Don't follow Him sporadically, but keep on following even when you don't feel like it.

We sometimes get in the habit of only "using" God in an emergency. But God is not like a spare tire that we put on when nothing else works, then take off when life returns to normal. God can't be stored in the trunk of the car, so to speak.

If we're working to know God and God is working in our lives, we will want to share Him with others, and we will gain a heart like his.

As condemned murderer Charles Peace was led to the gallows in Leeds, England, in 1879, a priest followed, calmly reading aloud the "Consolations of Religion," which warned Peace of the torment to come after death. His executioners offered a final request, and Peace asked to speak with the priest.

"Sir," he said, "if I believe what you and the church of God say that you believe about hell, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living just to save one soul from an eternal place like that."

We have to ask ourselves, "Do we have that sense of urgency?"

God has given us an urgent task-to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the spiritually lost. But as we begin to build bridges to those we know who need Christ, we may encounter some extremely wide chasms.

God bless you,

Dan

Order your copy of Sharing Christ When You Feel You Can't and learn about the great chasms that need to be crossed to share Christ with others who need him, and how we can cross them with confidence.

Copyright 2008 Eternity Minded Ministries