Published by admin on July 30, 2011 - 1:29pm
If the world’s population was reduced to 100 people:
- Fifty seven would be Asian.
- Twenty one would be European.
- Eight would be African.
- Two would be American.
- Fifty would be malnourished.
- Eighty would live in below standard housing conditions and one would hold a University Degree. Just one.
When I first heard this statistic, it was startling for me, mainly because I perceived the entire world to live just like my friends and family in our little part of Southwest Orlando. This brought me to even a bigger realization: God truly has a heart for the nations. Out of the 6.4 billion people in the world, over 4 billion are without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
Moreover 2.4 billion who are lost have no means of ever hearing the gospel: they don’t have streets filled with churches, and they don’t have cabinets filled with Bibles in various translations, in fact, they don’t even have a single copy of the Bible in their entire village. If you lined these people up in a single file line, they would wrap around the world 25 times. This is why in Matthew 9:37, Jesus talks about the harvest being plentiful. The harvest is ready to be reaped. God is preparing the hearts of those all around the world…but there is just one problem. The laborers are few. That is you and I.
In Isaiah 6, Isaiah has a vision of the Lord. It is a vivid picture of God’s holiness. Isaiah then recognizes that he is not worthy. “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips,” he says. Just then the seraph touches his lips with a burning coal and his sin is atoned for. Immediately in the next verse, we see Isaiah’s response. The Lord asks, “Who shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah quickly responds, “Here am I! Send me.” He is not hesitant, he does not wait for a divine calling; he is willing, even more so, he is eager.
After receiving redemption and forgiveness of our sins, and the opportunity to know a holy and loving God, what shall our response be? Shall we continue to go about our days, work our 40 hour weeks, spend countless hours in our textbooks? Living a life characterized by redemption is composed of much more than just going to church on Sundays and maybe even the occasional Wednesday night bible study. I am as much a part of this problem as is most others. You see, my eight weeks spent in India did not make me a perfect person. It made me aware of how selfish, self-centered, and materialistic I am. Now, almost a month later, a part of me wants to return to the way I used to function and perceive my Christian faith, however, the memories of those desperate for the truth still weighs heavily on my heart.