Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth,
for I am God, and there is no other.”

I have had people put down the whole idea of missions to me, saying, “They have their religions. Why push yours on them?” Such people obviously have no real faith of their own. Isaiah is the most “missionary” of the books of the Old Testament, though there are many references to God’s universal love scattered throughout. However, Isaiah repeatedly points out not only that all other gods besides Yahweh are lies, he extends God’s invitation to salvation to everyone, including those who have been deceived by those lying gods. If we don’t want other people to know the God of the Bible, either we don’t love them, or we don’t really know God ourselves. Both of those factors are sadly evident in the world around us. Far too many people are so self-centered that if they think they and their immediate loves ones are safe, they don’t really care about anyone else. That is sad indeed, but it is all too human. The remedy for that lies in seeing people as God does, but far too many people don’t really know Him, regardless of how much knowledge they might claim about Him. I have known of “theologians” whom I strongly doubt I will see in heaven! The better we know the One who sent His Son to die for all mankind, the more we will desire that the purpose of that sacrifice be fulfilled, and that people from every ethnic, social, and racial group, from every spot on the globe, would know Him too, and commit themselves to Him in repentance and faith.

I doubt I will forget one time I was speaking to a group of native English teachers in Nagasaki City about the Christian history of this prefecture, and afterward one of them came up to me with exactly the objection I have mentioned, saying that Japanese already have Shinto and Buddhism. My reply was very simply, “When I know such a wonderful salvation myself, how can I keep from wanting to share it with others?” It takes courage to tell people they are headed for hell apart from Christ, but if you saw people rushing toward a pit of poisonous snakes, wouldn’t you try to stop them? That is a very close analogy to the whole matter of evangelism and missions. I was raised as the son of missionaries and the grandson of a Missions professor, so the obligation and privilege of sharing Christ cross-culturally has always been strong in my awareness. At the same time, I shared Christ with a total stranger for the first time only when I had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. When I see genuine Christians who are lukewarm toward the idea of evangelism and missions, I pray the fire of the Holy Spirit for them! Not everyone is gifted as an Evangelist – I’m not – but all have the privilege of sharing their own experience of Christ. Not everyone is sent to some far-off location, but everyone encounters people daily who have no knowledge of God.

Well, I’ve just been given the message for a week from today! Thank You, Father. May I be faithful and effective in sharing Christ with all, in word and in action, so that many indeed may repent and believe for their salvation, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!