I am reading “Let the Nations Be Glad!” by John Piper for a class, and came across this quote tonight, and thought I would share.
“Have you ever wondered what it feels like to have a love for the lost? This is a term we use as part of our Christian jargon. Many believers search their hearts in condemnation, looking for the arrival of some feeling of benevolence that will propel them into bold evangelism. It will never happen. It is impossible to love “the lost.” You can’t feel deeply for an abstraction or a concept. You would find it impossible to love deeply an unfamiliar individual portrayed in a photograph, let alone a nation or a race or something as vague as “all lost people.”
This quote really made think about how often I share the Gospel of grace that has so radically changed my life with people in my life. How often I think I need to wait for some “feeling.” (whatever that is)
It saddens me that I’m not so in love with God that I can’t do anything BUT tell everyone I meet of us grace, and love. Not just when I’m on a stage, or “working,” but always, everywhere – sharing, and talking about God’s love and mercy, and how He made a way for us to come into a personal relationship with Him through His Son – Jesus Christ, as the Holy Spirit opens us hearts to the Gospel.
What I need to do is love my God so much, that I, like Peter, can’t shut up about Him. That it oozes out of me.
At this point in my life, it doesn’t. And I hate that.
I can’t wait for that day when the Love that God has for people oozes out of me. I know deep down in my heart how deep, and wide this love is, I just want my actions to match up with what I know.
That’s the hard part.
