Acts 13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

This verse contains what I, and probably many other Christians, consider a hard truth: not everyone is appointed for eternal life. I don’t think God creates people for the purpose of eternal destruction, but at the same time, He knows the end from the beginning, so He knows who will believe and who won’t. This is the whole issue of predestination and free will. We are all given the possibility of believing, but God knows ahead of time who will and who won’t believe. In the Japanese here there is an expression that bothers me: “they entered (the) faith.” I don’t know the Greek here, but that sounds terribly transactional to me, like joining an organization. To me, faith is intensely personal, a relationship with my Creator, my Savior, and their Spirit. There are indeed organizational factors, but I want to be connected to the Head! All of that said, the fact remains that not everyone to whom the Gospel is presented is going to receive it and respond in repentance and faith. I am reminded of what Yongi Cho of Korea said about praying for healing: “We don’t know why only about 30% of the people we pray for get healed, but we do know that if we didn’t pray, those 30% wouldn’t get healed.” The same applies to evangelism. We don’t know why some people don’t accept the Gospel, but we can be sure that if the Gospel is not communicated, no one would be saved. The brutal fact of the matter is that we don’t have the mental horsepower to understand predestination and free will, so we have to operate in obedient faithfulness, rejoicing over those who do believe and seeking to help them be fruitful, as in the parable of the seed and the soil, (Matthew 13:3-9) but not taking it as personal failure when people refuse to believe.

As a missionary pastor in Japan, this is intensely personal for me. My own father once prostrated himself on the floor and cried out, “God, if I am what is standing in the way of revival in Japan, then take me out of the way!” I identify with that completely! He didn’t see the level of fruit that he desired, and neither have I, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no fruit. There are numbers of people we will see in heaven who wouldn’t be there if we weren’t faithful, so we have to be at peace with that. I would love to have a “faith potion” to be able to let people drink it, but the best I can do is present the Water of Life and give people the opportunity to drink, and hopefully, to immerse themselves in it. Beyond that, I can only release them to God and His merciful grace.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for calling me to Japan, where the fruit seems so sparse. That grows my faith, because I have to keep trusting You! Thank You for the contacts I’ve renewed since we got back. May we be faithful in every detail, allowing You to use us in drawing as many people into Your family as You know will come, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!