Christian Living

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It has been shelved by too many churches and it shouldn’t be. Who am I to know God’s plan? Because it’s in the Bible: “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son…” As familiar as the morning coffee pot, those words in John 3:16 are very important.

They reveal God’s plan for the human race. God loves the world. Who is the world? Everyone, of course. Every human being who lives in this world. It means believers and non-believers alike.

Notice John 3:16 doesn’t say: “For God so loved only the Christians that He selected.” In His grace, and mercy, and generosity, God says there is a place in heaven for everyone who will repent and believe. The “No Vacancy” sign will never be posted: there is unlimited room for all in God’s heaven. “that whoever believes in Him (Jesus) will have eternal life.” Those who will trust and obey. We read in 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

It seems many today are forgetting this. God’s plan seems to have no relevance. It’s a mistake for us who have salvation to regard ourselves as the chosen ones. Christians should not become smug, self-satisfied, and have the story end there. We have to do more than sit and wait for heaven; obsessed with how wonderful it is for us; never stopping to think of the masses for whom Jesus came to this planet.

We mustn't be self-centred. People will only be in heaven if we tell them about it. Then they accept or reject. Good news has to be read or heard to be received and understood.

There is a warning too in John 3:16: “…that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” So whoever does not believe will perish, and there are other scriptures in John to support that. Eternal death is a breath away, but many obviously don’t realize it.

Ezekiel 2 and 3 contain sombre words for us all. God told Ezekiel (the watchman) to deliver the message: “…tell them ‘Thus says the Lord God’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.” (3:11)

In verse 18 we read if the watchman does not give warning and the man dies in his sin God says to the watchman: “his blood I will require at your hand.”

If the watchman gives the warning, it isn’t heeded and a man dies in his sin, “you have delivered your soul.”

Those are verses not just to skim over, but to reflect upon.

We are an integral part of God’s plan to save humanity. He could do it without our help, but has given us the task of telling them. People die in various ways, which is the first death. Yet there is something more beyond the grave or crematorium if we convey the gospel. We take the message--and the results are up to God.

Oh that every pastor and minister, every church board in this world would see the urgency, and make it a priority for their church.

When we don’t go public with the gospel, whether by spoken word or printed, then we are failing to carry out God’s plan for humanity.

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