Sometimes folks worry that they are being hypocritical to share their faith if they are not feeling compassion for the lost. I understand that dilemma. It's very real and very perplexing.


Maybe this analogy will give some hope. Can you imagine a firefighter going up the ladder to the second story of a home where a fire is raging. At the window is a mother with her baby, anxiously waiting for the fireman to bring them to safety. Half way up, he stops and says to himself, "You know, I really have no feeling for these people. I'd really rather be at home with my children and my wife. What am I doing? What a hypocrite I am. There's no way I can, in integrity, save these people." Then, he goes back down the ladder. We would scream in protest, wouldn't we? "Hey, Mr. Fireman, it doesn't matter how you are feeling, those people are in danger. Get up that ladder and rescue them!"

In a similar way, the folks around us who are lost are in need of rescue. Should we pray for a heart full of compassion and tenderness? By all means! But the reality remains, regardless of our feelings, that these dear people are in great need. This helps me as I continue to cry out for God to give me His compassion and a heart full of tenderness. I must go and obey my Master as He continues in His mission to seek and to save the lost.

How about you?  Do you struggle with having compassion for the lost?  Does it discourage you from witnessing?   Let me know what you think.  It would help me and others who are reading these posts.  Let's get a dialogue going, okay?

What is it that charged the early church with passion and vision to be about the business of preaching the gospel? How, in the midst of all the suffering and persecution, did they stay so focused? And, not only focused but joyfully so?


I believe there is one answer to that question. I believe the following verse will make it clear:

Phil 3:20-4:1 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. 4 Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.

Their eyes were on eternity, and their hope was the reward that lay ahead of them in Heaven! Pure and simple.

I once read of an old preacher who said, by necessity, he withdrew from the world for an hour a day JUST TO MEDITATE ON HEAVEN!  Wow!  Why did he do that?  Because he believer three things.  First, that Heaven was really his home.  Secondly, that the flesh, the devil, and the world, pulled his focus away from this reality in a strong way.  Thirdly, that God really meant it when He said, "Set your minds on things above."

How can I do that?  Just a few suggestions...Read PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, the book of Revelation, Randy Alcorn's HEAVEN, FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS.  Meditate on Scriptures like those above, often.  Finally, pray Jonathan Edward's prayer often:  "Lord, stamp eternity on my eyes!"

Have you ever thought about how our witnessing plays into spiritual warfare?  Don't we normally think about this warfare from a defensive posture?  How about taking the offense?  How do we do that, anyway?   Consider this great quote from D.A. Carson below.  And, then, strap on that gospel armor and get going!  :)

"And they have conquered him (Satan)...by the word of their testimony..." Rev. 12:11


"We overcome Satan on the ground of the blood of the cross, and we overcome also on the ground of this declared word. God has ordained that by the foolishness of the proclaimed message men and women will be saved. It is not simply a question of how we survive the accusations of the Evil One. It is a question of how we fight the Evil One. We do so not by taking swords and becoming crusaders and by shooting the bad guys. We fight him by the proclamation of the gospel again and again and again...The only way we can be defeated on this dimension is to be quiet. Our silence guarantees a measure of victory to Satan.

"When was the last time you explained the gospel to an unbeliever one-on one or one-on-three in a more-or-less neutral or even hostile evnvironment? That is how the gospel advances. I know that conversion is finally a work of God. God can sweep through a population with great power and bring countless thousands into the kingdom in very short order. But normally the God of the Bible uses means. He has ordained that the gospel will advance by the foolishness of the Word preached, by bearing witness to Christ...At the end of the day we overcome the Devil by bearing testimony of Jesus." ~ D.A. Carson, from Scandalous, The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus

I recently read the following from Mark Cahill's newsletter:

I happened to read an article recently about Shaquille O’Neal. As I read it, I ran across a very interesting statement.

“I know I will play in the NBA next season,” said O’Neal. “International? No. The good thing about me and my career is I came in, did it my way, did more than expected. For every athlete or every great person, there’s a time when it has to end. When and if it ever ends it will be very graciously.”
“We’re going to have a big party. We’re going to have a ceremony, and the next thing I’ll be waiting for is the entrance into the place where your name will never be forgotten.

Of course, Shaq was talking about the Basketball Hall of Fame.  Oh, to get your name in there; then it will never be forgotten.  The problem?  As Mark points out, if you were to go to the basketball hall of fame, there would be plenty of names that you did not know.  Yet, isn't interesting that there is a yearning in every person's heart for immortality?  But, I'm sorry, Shaq, you are shooting far too low!

In the book of Revelation, we are told that there is a very special book.  If your name is in this one, then you will not only be remembered forever, you will also live with Jesus in total, joyful bliss forever.  This, as you know, is the LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE.  I do hope your name is in that book.  If it is, do you realize that your call is to go passionately into this world to relentlessly pursue the lost, so they may have their names in that book?  Please, dear reader, go forth boldly preaching the Good News so the Shaq's of your world may have "entrance into the place where [their] name will never be forgotten."