In our world today, where so much of the focus is on short-term gratification, sadly, the great majority of unsaved individuals give little thought to their eternal destiny. In fact, non-believers choose to suppress the truth about eternal things and the need to get right with God because they live in constant rebellion against the Lord. And until these lost souls understand that they are on a collision course with eternal damnation unless they accept the Lord Jesus into their hearts, we as Christians must see our mission in life as one of sharing and caring for this vast sea of lost humanity.
Sharing
Since the unsaved have little desire to be accountable to a Holy God, they allow their sin nature to control them and by suppressing the truth about their sinful nature and that there is a God, they stay blinded by the enemy to their lost state of being. Our job as Christians is to share the good news of the gospel with those people God puts in our path with the hope that they will grasp that they are loved by God, but that their sins have separated them from God; and that Jesus is their only hope to prevent the certain eternal doom that awaits them. Sharing the gospel is one of the two most important things we can ever do to show our love for the lost!
Caring
The second way we can manifest our love for the lost is just as important, but often overlooked, and that is we must fervently pray for the unconverted souls we share the gospel with. I cannot stress just how important and loving this act of prayer is. For you see the battle for the salvation of souls is first and foremost a spiritual battle and victory can often only be obtained through fervent prayer. My friends if you care for the salvation of family and friends then prayer is not some optional use of our time, but the critical way to reach those who are dead in their sins and trespasses – which include all humanity, before they come to Christ.
Prayer, in my opinion, is the most powerful and caring resource we have to reach the lost with the gospel message. Only the Holy Spirit can penetrate the soul of someone who is in total rebellion against Jesus. And fervent prayer is often the only way we can activate the Holy Spirit to send, first, conviction of sin, and second, illumination of the truth of the Bible and the gospel message, to the mind and heart of a non-believer.
John R. Mott said it well: “We fail to prevail with unconverted men because of our more fundamental failure to prevail with God in prayer.”1 In addition, Mott rightly stated: “The history of missions is a history of prayer. Everything vital to the success of the world’s evangelization hinges on prayer.”2
I believe that sharing the gospel and caring enough to pray for the souls who don’t know Jesus are two sides of the same coin in the conversion process of evangelism. Both are essential and together they maximize the chance that a soul will come to Christ. So let’s get busy in sharing the gospel and praying for those we share it with. Time is short and running out and quite frankly what can be more important than saving souls!