Do You Still Think About Saving the Lost?

That’s a pretty direct question, and yet it is justified. Suppose you had to answer in all honesty with a “no.” Suppose you had to admit that you do not think about the salvation of the lost — wouldn’t you be ignoring the main mission of the Bible?

Jesus’ last words before His ascension were purposefully aimed in this direction. That is why we aptly call them the “Great Commission.”

In fact, wasn’t Jesus’ mission of His incarnation based precisely on this guiding principle of saving the lost? Why did Jesus become man at all? Why did He walk this earth and die the death of a criminal as an innocent man? Because He was concerned with the salvation of the lost. According to Luke 19:10, He answered these questions when He stated: “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” There could be no clearer answer.

But now our Lord and Master has ascended to heaven. Did He consider the search for the lost to be complete? Or did He command others to do this search for Him? If “yes,” to whom is this command directed? To us! Shortly before His ascension, Jesus turned to His disciples and followers and commissioned them to continue the mission He had begun. It was a fairly direct mission. We find it in Matthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.” Jesus’ mission has been passed on from generation to generation. And today it applies to us, our generation.

Do you still think about the salvation of the lost? Do you still pray for it? Are you still making your financial contribution? And what are you personally doing about the salvation of the lost?

I read the autobiography of John Paton, a missionary. A powerful statement was made about him. He is described in the book as “the man with only one thought.” He was all about winning souls for the Lord.

I couldn’t help but think of the apostle Paul. Referring to his attitude to life, he wrote: “For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I may win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under the law before Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:19-22). Paul was thinking about the salvation of the lost. He was “a man with only one thought.”

Living in this age of prosperity, we are in danger of losing this one thought. Where this thought is missing, the work of soul-winning is neglected. And the end result? The lost are no longer reached with the message of salvation.

I would like to encourage you to use your talents in this ministry. You can become a soul-winner right where God has placed you: in your family, at work, with friends, in your circle of relatives….

There is so much to do, even for you! May the Lord bless your resolutions and also your personal commitment!

Harry Semenjuk

Wetaskiwin, Alberta