Over the past couple weeks, I have been slowly reading Leonard Ravenhill’s book, Why Revival Tarries. Here is a particularly challenging quote: “Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand? Can you sit at ease with the world around you damned?”

Ravenhill makes an excellent point. If I saw someone burning or drowning or dying or choking or hurt, would I not do everything I possibly could to help them and rescue them? The simple answer is yes, I would do whatever I could and I know that you would answer that question in the same way. So why is it that as Christians, when we know the world around us is lost and dying in their sins, we are content to sit back and let it happen? Why are we not more concerned that our friends, neighbors, co-workers, and families are on the fast track to hell? We care about their physical health but care little about the eternal destiny of their souls. Friends, this is a tragedy. There is a mission field all around us; we just have to care enough to recognize it. I say it all the time at Hope Church, that we don’t have to go to China to enter the mission field – we are on one. No matter where you live, all you have to do is walk across the street and you will find someone who needs Jesus. During this Christmas season, as we remember the birth of our Savior, remember also that there are billions of souls who have not experienced the joy of fellowship with Jesus. Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and we are part of his plan to reach those lost souls. May we draw near to Jesus, and let him give us a white-hot passion for missions and evangelism.