bits from bob....

Willing to Die? Willing to Live?

by Bob Young
©, 2001, Bob Young
[permission is given to reprint with credit noted]

William Stekel said, "The mark of the immature man is he wants to die nobly for a cause. The mark of the mature man is he wants to live humbly for one."

It is not difficult to find people who would die for Christ. I do not know whether God's people in this century are as willing to die for him as were those in the first century, but I am convinced that many who believe in Jesus today would die for him. If there existed a power that could say to us that we must either deny Christ or die, I believe many would refuse to deny him. The problem of the church in the twentieth century is not dying for Christ, but living for him.

Much of the energy of our preachers, teachers, and elders is consumed in trying to get people who have already named the name of Jesus to live for the Lord. We want so much to live for ourselves. We are too concerned about what we can get out of life instead of how much of life we can give to serving the Lord. We are willing to serve him if it is not too expensive or does not demand too much of time or energy. This attitude makes it forever necessary that someone try to get us to really live for Jesus.

Consider how few people are active in reaching out in evangelism. Many will live and die never having heard a word about Jesus because too many of God's people will live and die without ever having spoken a word about Jesus. Evangelism is most often left to those who have dedicated their lives to preaching the gospel, yet winning souls is part of living for Jesus. His command to preach the gospel to every creature was given to all followers; it is not limited to preachers. Saving souls is part of living for Jesus, and none can doubt that there are souls to be saved!

All of God's children must be about the business of the Father's business if we are to live for Jesus. It will not do to desire souls to be saved if someone else saves them. If we are genuine in our claim that we do not want anyone to be lost eternally, we must find within ourselves sufficient interest to spend more time and our effort to win them.

The difficulty haunts me. Many of today's Christians, if indeed we be like Christ, live and die without having a part in the salvation of any soul. We would die for him, but are we willing to live for him?


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