Are They Really Friends?
Do you have any denominational or generally religious friends and/or family members? How much do you love them? No, I mean, how much do you really love them? Do you really love them – so much so that you would be willing to risk or to do almost anything to see them spend eternity in heaven? You know, as the old love song lyrics would claim about “climbing the highest mountain” and/or “swimming the deepest sea” for those you love and etc? Or better yet, as Romans 5, Philippians 2, and a plethora of other Scriptures state, as the love of Jesus made Him more than willing to brave and to endure infinitely far more for the lost than either of those two things would entail?
Have you shared the gospel with your friends?
The question is: Do we love our lost denominational family, friends and neighbors, enough to want to see them in heaven despite what it might cost us to help ensure that some of them get there? Or, are we so selfish, as to put our desire for their momentary friendship and social support during this vaporous earthly life, ahead of their eternity, that we are willing to remain silent about the truth of God to them regarding their lost estate, because we don’t want to potentially lose their momentary earthly friendship by bringing up bible truth?
I am also at this point, reminded by the parable of the talents Jesus told in Matthew 25, that the servant of His who hid what he had been given instead of investing it for a return, was cast out right alongside and amongst those who were lost. In other words and to the point of this article, he joined those he had refused to invest God’s truth in, in their misery, having become one of them through (in this case) his own disobedience and unwillingness to share with them what God had given him. We have been given the glorious gospel truth in all its glory, splendor, and soul-saving simplicity by our Lord and Savior Himself, to share with our lost denominational family, friends, and neighbors:
“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required” “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts.” (Luke 12:48; 1 Thessalonians 2:4)
And so, I am begging any of us who have yet to share the gospel truth with lost loved ones, to please stop and reconsider why. Is their momentary earthly friendship so important that we are willing to watch them be sentenced to hell on Judgment Day simply because we chose to keep silent and keep the soul-saving, life-giving gospel truth to ourselves today? Do we really think that having once brought it up to them perhaps years or decades ago, that we have somehow adequately ‘done our duty’ for God? (If so, then please re-read Matt. 21:28-41 and re-consider the persistent love of God for the lost.)
You know brethren, we can continue to pray with every breath we take, that God will somehow intervene and reverse and increase our declining attendance… but it will only and ultimately, be an effort in futility, unless and until we prove that we have the faith to move forward, get going, get our hands dirty each and every one, and continually seek to invest and plant the soul-saving truth of God in the hearts and souls of the lost we love. God is more than ready (Exod. 14:15). Are we?