Rejoice with me…
LUKE 15:7
Witnessing. Evangelizing. Sharing your faith. Whatever you call it, we shift nervously whenever the subject comes up, don’t we?
So how could something that makes us break out into a cold sweat be a habit of grace?
Luke 15 presents the conversion of a soul as of greatest value. In the three stories told – the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son – what is lost is found. And in each case, there is much rejoicing. Partying breaks out! There is celebration. Heaven, which apparently has been on tiptoe watching, hardly daring to breathe, bursts out with rejoicing. This tells us much about conversion, doesn’t it?
2 Peter 2:9 tells us that God has plans to end this world and start the next, but that time is delayed, for the following reason.
He is patient with you,
not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.
Everyone. Your neighbor, our family, the people you work with. Paul tells us that God’s patience is not forever.
Now is the time of God’s favor,
now is the day of salvation.
2 CORINTHIANS 6:2
Remember Nehemiah, overseeing the repairing of the wall in Jerusalem? Three detractors tried to distract him and slow the rebuilding momentum. How did Nehemiah answer them?
“I’m doing a great work; I can’t come down.
NEHEMIAH 6:3
Sharing the gospel is a great work. It’s God’s work, and there is no greater work. Think of the privilege that is ours, to help make heaven party! We get to have a hand in the ingathering of souls to all eternity. We get to enter in to the joy of salvation – God’s joy. We are part of a grand plan, to gather in people from every tribe and nation and tongue, who will very soon stand around the throne of God together, singing “WORTHY IS THE LAMB!”
Pray for us, to have ears to listen this Sunday, as Andy Draycott preaches on the habit of proclamation. Pray that as we hear, we will not harden our hearts, but act on what we are reminded of, so that the partying of heaven will get a little bit louder in the days ahead, to God’s glory.
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