We all have a dream, a desire. Most have more than others. Some of us have an entire closet full of dreams and there are a lot of great things that we can realize about dreams. For example, by pursuing just one dream, we find fulfillment. So, we don’t need to pursue them all and also, we don’t have to achieve a dream to find fulfillment and satisfaction, but to actively pursue it. And so, by living our dream, we cannot only contribute to ourselves, but to everyone around us.
Yet, most people are not pursuing their dream but are spending time and abilities pursuing the things we think will make us happy and bring us fulfillment. A person once said, “You can’t get enough of what you don’t really want.” When the new car does not make us happy, we tend to blame the new car for not being enough and we then set our sights on a better new car, thinking that it will make us happy.
When we consider the dream of reaching every lost soul (Lk. 19:10), many Christians are so far away from living this dream that they have forgotten what their dream truly is as a Christian (Matt. 16:24; Matt. 28:19-20). It is sad, unnecessary and wasteful. Yet, it is so common an ailment that it has become a cliché. We have abandoned our heart’s desire and somewhere deep down we know it. This is why Paul set the example, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Rom. 10:1).
Why are we not living this dream? I believe it is because there is something we are trained to honor more than a soul: the comfort zone. The comfort zone is all the things we have done, often enough, to feel comfortable doing again. Whenever we do something new or something that is not practiced often, it falls outside the barrier of the comfort zone. This why when Christians contemplate reaching out to a lost soul, many feel fear, guilt, unworthiness, hurt feelings, anger and all these things we consider as uncomfortable.
The irony is that the very feelings we have been taught to label as uncomfortable are in fact, among the very tools necessary to fulfill our dream of evangelism (Psa. 27:1; 2 Cor 4:7-18). Why don’t we know this? I mean, why do we sing about being a worker for the Lord or about leading us to some soul today when we clearly will not because it puts us outside our comforts? I mean is being uncomfortable reason enough not to do something? In Acts 1, when the Lord Left the apostles, do you think that they were uncomfortable knowing what they were about to do? Or what about those who were scattered in Acts 8? We need to ask ourselves “Are we still letting what other people might think about us, affect our judgment to do what the Lord has asked us to do? It is heart wrenching that many Christians are drifting along in a childish sleep (Lk. 6:46). But, to live the dream of evangelism, we must wake up. It is your choice and to know that to change a habit requires work. Jesus again shows us what it means to work (Jn. 9:4; Lk. 10:2).
Brethren, it’s time to do it. The truth is, we are going to spend the rest of our lives doing something. Why not let it be the reaching out towards a soul (Jam. 5:20)? You see, the same amount of work it takes to gather things we really don’t need is the same amount of work it takes to reach the lost. But, how can we reach them? Well, you do by learning and how do we learn? By doing. Just think, the willingness to do creates the ability to do. For now, be willing to do. Be willing to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33) and do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. But rather, do all you can to stand and speak the Gospel of Christ (Eph. 6:13-20) as we pursue the dream of reaching the lost.