There is a popular saying when it comes to passion or work ethics for a central cause or purpose which is, “it doesn’t matter until you put some skin in the game.” What does this quote mean? Like the thought, “until you sweat blood you have not endured pain.”, when you put your heart or something of personal value within a situation the outcome matters to you. This is the bloodline of evangelism. Until you are able to cry for the lost, you will never work hard enough to save them. Nevertheless, how are we able to judge, in other words, who do we know is saved, how can we condemn one who is lost. Empathy does not happen without action. Sympathy allows one to see someone else’s pain while empathy causes one to be repugnant and do something about the pain they witness. Empathy is the cornerstone of Christianity. We see in the Book of James, Chapter 2 the argument of faith without the proper lifestyle is meaningless.
“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about the physical needs, what good is it? In the same way faith by itself, if it is not companied by action, is dead.”
James 2:14- 17
If we don’t adopt the proper attitude towards being a Christian, we will never successfully grasp the concept of being a Christian. Love is a verb. It is action. It is a moving force. Read this scripture in I John and allow it to marinate in your heart & mind.
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fear is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command. Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.”- I John 4:16- 21
Now consider the cross; the single act of love/pain/passion and salvation. Read the scripture in II Corinthians and think about the driving force within humanity based on the love Jesus Christ has for our creation.
“If we are ‘out of our mind’, as some say, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one dies for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”
II Corinthians 5:13- 15
Why does one fight to guard the gospel? Where does the journey of evangelism cease? To what end of the Earth are our treasures found? Where are the horizons for our eyes to glimpse into eternity? How are we capable?