HAVING THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE LOST
By David Valls
Mitchell County
Since the Christmas season is approaching, I was going to write something about the importance of the season and then continue our series on the purpose of salvation. That planned changed. The Lord has burdened my heart to write something different. I was listening to a song by Casting Crowns entitled “Does Anybody Hear Her”…. The song talks about people all around who are lost and hopeless searching for hope. As I was listening, I thought about all the people around us with that need to know about Jesus and yet many times they go unnoticed, unseen and unheard. They are trying to find the hope that is inside of us. We (the church) are the ones that bear the responsibility to share with those who feel unloved, unwanted, unseen and unheard. They need to know there is a Jesus that loves the unlovable, desires the undesirable and wants the unwanted.
Many times, we are quick to pass judgment on people that we have never even met… and because we do not feel they meet our “lofty” expectations, we may look the other way. Is that the Jesus we want to portray to the lost? We are to speak the truth in love and give constructive criticism rather than judgmental criticism, which amounts to finger-pointing and thinking we are somehow more righteous than the lost. Let us never forget we were once lost just as they were! Being saved does not make us no longer sinners. We are still sinners saved by God’s amazing Grace, which we did not nor could ever earn! Romans 3: 23 says “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
Let us be more like the publican and less than the pharisee, who lifts our heart toward heaven and says Lord I’m glad I am not like that publican… or are we more like the publican who would not even look toward heaven and smote his chest and say Lord be merciful to me? Because we often think so highly of ourselves, our attitude toward the lost is pharisaical… showing them how good we think we are, rather than showing the love of Jesus. If they only think they are welcome in the church if they meet OUR standards, then they will get the impression that Jesus will not accept them as they are. Gone are the days when people just come walking into church. If they will not come to us, then we must go to them! We must witness to the lost in this world. In the area we live, it is often assumed everybody already knows about Jesus…but you would be surprised to find how untrue this is. The best way for people to hear about Jesus is for we the church to take the message to them by going outside the walls of the building and making disciples. Matthew 28: 19-20 Jesus says “Go, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” We should not want our failure to mention Jesus to even one person, result in them missing out on heaven.
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David Valls attends Middle District Freewill Baptist Church in Buladean. He is from Mitchell County. He has been the adult class Sunday school teacher for the past 13 years.
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