June 26, 2017
Sometimes our struggles can seem so difficult, so monumental. In fact, sometimes they are difficult and monumental. Life is certainly not easy for any of us! But the thing to remember is that when compared with the heartbreaks, devastating loneliness, frustration, hopelessness, and lack of love and purpose that many people who do not know the Lord face, without the promise of an eternity with God, our problems seem less significant!
As God’s children, we’re blessed with the constant companionship of His Spirit, and fellowship with our friends and loved ones who share our faith. We have confidence in the Lord’s unconditional love, and we know that even though we make a lot of mistakes, His forgiveness is readily available to us if we will just come to Him and ask for it. Many of us haven’t yet learned to not succumb to guilt, remorse, and condemnation despite our knowledge of the Lord’s unconditional love and forgiveness, but we’re learning, and we know by faith that we don’t have to be weighed down by regrets, bitterness, guilt, and condemnation. We have His Word to claim, that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”1
So if you’re weary with the trials and tribulations of life on earth, if you’re tempted to grumble about how bad you have it, remind yourself that compared to the poor lost people of the world who don’t know the Lord, and sometimes don’t even have anything to eat or a place to live—as His children, we are blessed! Jesus died to save us so that we could help Him to save others. We are called to love and comfort others with the same comfort and love He gives to us.2
Each of God’s children has a unique calling. The Lord has a plan and purpose for each of us. If we question or become bitter about His plan for our lives, it can cloud and hinder the precious time that He has given us on this earth to live for Him.
As His disciples, we are called to go out into the sea of humankind, seeking those who are lost, sinking, and drowning, to offer them life, hope, and truth. We have the vastness of His riches to share with a lost and dying world—we have His wonderful comfort, the power of His Word, our knowledge of the future He has promised for all His children. We are called to share what we have received with the dying and desperate of this world who have lost hope of any comfort or who lack the knowledge of God who loves them or the heaven that awaits them. They desperately need God’s love and truth, these who die a thousand deaths before their physical body is laid to rest in the grave. Won’t you do everything possible to share with them the lasting joy and peace of mind and eternal life that you have in Jesus?
The Lord has given each of us our assignments for our time on earth. God’s Word says that Jesus came to “seek and to save that which was lost.”3 Jesus said, “As My Father has sent Me, so send I you.”4 His Father sent Him to the earth to die that we might live. Our job is to “die daily” to self for others that they may live—giving of our selves every day that others might find eternal life in Jesus.
Paul said, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”5 If you will look at both Jesus’ life and Paul’s life, you’ll see they weren’t very easy. Jesus never promised us a life of ease, but He did say that this life is but for a moment, and if we suffer for Him, we’ll also reign with Him.6 However, He even says that He will give us things right here and now in this life that will make our lives fulfilled and joyous!7
The Lord is able to use even the sadness we feel when we lose someone to become aware of His sadness for His loved ones who are lost to Him. He tells us to weep with those who weep and let our hearts be broken for those who don’t yet know Him. These are dying spiritually every day without His love. Just as our hearts ache and we are engulfed with sadness at missing those who are gone from us now, so does His heart long for His lost children. You know how it is when your heart is broken and you’re devastated by some tragic experience or loss. You can feel it physically—you sometimes feel sick to your stomach; your heart actually aches.
Just as we as parents miss our children when we are away from them, and just as we are desperate to know that they are safe and happy and well, so does the Lord care for His children. He wants them in His arms, close to His bosom and safe in His home—all the same things we wish for our children.
Do you remember what it was like before you found the Lord, when all seemed lost to you, you were in great despair, and your life seemed meaningless, empty, and void of understanding? Do you remember how unhappy and desperate you were? The Lord heard your heartcry, and He reached out to you and took you in His arms in your time of need. And to do this, He probably used some person, someone who was a faithful witness, who was overflowing with thanksgiving and joy for the wonderful love of the Lord in his or her heart.
Even if you grew up all your life with the knowledge of the Lord ever since you were a little child, you likewise are probably the fruit of someone’s faithfulness to witness to your parents, or their parents before them. How convicting it is to think of what the Lord has done for us, and how He used some faithful messenger, someone like you to do it! He beseeches us to do the same for others, for those who are lost and lonely in the cold and darkness—to imitate His example by sharing His love and Word and truth with others.
What if you had no purpose in life, no hope for the future, no one to go to when you were fearful, no one to comfort you when you were sad, no one to help you when you were confused, no way to get rid of your burdens of condemnation, no way to deal with the death of loved ones, no way of knowing where they had gone or if you would ever see them again, no way of dealing with loss or injury or illness or catastrophe, no one to help you when you are lonely? If someone helped each of us to know Jesus and His salvation, how can we fail to do the same for others? If Jesus loved you so much that He died for you, He also loved them so much that He died for them. Someone made it possible for each of us to know Jesus, and it’s now our responsibility to pass the message on!
The Lord wants us to have great concern for others, realizing that they live in turmoil and confusion and lack of love, and we have the answers in Him and His Word that they’re looking for. The Lord promises great returns if we’ll give unto others. “Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.”8
What a marvelous cycle! As we give to others, the Lord promises to give to us—strength, faith, and joy. As a result, others will see us and they’ll know we’ve been with Jesus, and they’ll want Him too. And so the cycle will go on and on. Praise the Lord!
Originally published July 1995. Adapted and republished June 2017.
Read by Debra Lee.
1 Romans 8:1–2.
2 2 Corinthians 1:4.
3 Luke 19:10.
4 John 20:21.
5 1 Corinthians 11:1.
6 2 Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 2:12.
7 1 Peter 1:8; John 15:11.
8 Colossians 3:24 NLT.
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