Urgent Matters
My wife and I just recently traveled to meet some great friends. We made the trip from Latrobe, Pa to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on Spirit Airlines in hopes to reconnect with those that we partner with in the cause to reach others for Jesus. In a very long-standing relationship with our missionary friends, the trip was a blessing to both parties. We had a great time catching up with each other, and had a great meal together out back on their patio chairs. In the time that we got to spend reconnecting, one thing was pressed very heavily on my heart: the subject of urgency.
I have never felt the urgency in my life like I do in these past weeks, days. My life as a Christian was on track, but I never really sensed that there was such a pressing need to get things rolling until the last few months. Perhaps it is something that I really didn’t acknowledge until after my accident. The world is not getting any younger, and neither am I. Souls here on earth are continually getting closer to the day that they part from this life to the next, meeting Jesus face to face. The time that we as soldiers for Christ have at our disposal to make an impact on those around us is continually diminishing. There is no guarantee that we will have tomorrow to do the work we are called to as Christians today. I had a serious wake up call when I nearly died in September of 2018. I truly thought my life was over. Although I was at total peace with going home to Jesus, after living through the accident I realize how much work there still is left to do to win people to the Lord. Time is of the essence. There is urgency to the call. Sadly, lost people are dying each and every day. The cause of urgency is very real and upfront, stage center in God’s eyes.
One of the things we discussed was the difference between the words “rushing” and “urgency.” There is a big difference. To rush into things by your own strength or power, even if your intentions are right on track, most often will result in failure. Sometimes we are not fully equipped to do what the Lord is calling us to do and need more instruction or discipline. To hear God’s calling and know the need to urgently listen and obey what He is saying, it is a completely different thing. Can we as Christians discern between the two? Of course! The Lord is more than ready and able to use you and I in the call of the great commission. It has been His call and challenge to us since the day He left earth, and ascended to be with the Father in heaven.
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 that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The Holy Spirit that He has blessed us with will more than equip you, train you, and teach you how and when to heed the call to be a “life compass” to others around you. Is there urgency to the call He has commanded us? Absolutely! Will we hear and listen to it? Well, that is our own choice and option to listen or not. Whichever way one chooses, one thing is for sure, we will all stand before Him one day and give an account of the life He has breathed into us. We will all have to stand and show what we have done with it, the gift of life and salvation that we have received. My heart and prayer for you is this, that you would heed the commission’s call, sense the urgency of it, and do whatever it is that God is opening up for you to do. You may be the only one in a certain situation that could be effective.
My involvement in missions has been long standing. Not only are there opportunities to be directly involved in your own home town as a modern culture “missionary,” but there are opportunities everywhere you look to help support others who are right in the midst of evangelism in every corner of the world around us. I personally have chose to be involved in both. Here at home, there are chances almost every day to point my compass needle towards Jesus in my circle of influence. You might question to yourself, “I have a circle of influence?” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes… you have one, everybody has one! There are people around us each and every day that quite possibly only we ourselves can reach. You might be the only one that the guy you lift weights with at the gym would talk to. The mom that is always at the library when you take your toddler for story time, she might see something different in only you. The coworker that God has crossed paths with you, knowing that you can see into him or her and know exactly how much they are hurting right now… you might be the only Jesus he or she ever sees. The lonely soul who you see at the park so often, knowing that they might not have a place to go home to... for whatever reason they may have walls up to everyone but you. Only you know your friends like you do. Only you have that special “in” with the person you talk with on the bus each day. Just think…you can be the Jesus that they need to see! You could be that “life compass” that points the way to the truth. The urgency screams loud from the housetops and through the streets each day we wake up and breathe the breath of life. What are we going to do with it?
There is also the privilege of financially aiding and sponsoring global missions. The financial need to back up those men and women who have heard God’s call on their lives is real. To reach the uttermost parts of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ costs money, as travel, ministry, and living expenses are real bills that need to be paid.
Romans 10:13-15 explains this very plainly:
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Do we see a need to fund the workers heavily entrenched in the work of the gospel? Is there a mission team that God is impressing on your heart to financially “send” someone? Could a sacrifice here or there enable you to financially support someone who can take the gospel to an ear that needs to hear it?
I have been involved in missions work in the Amazon River Basin for about twenty years now. The long-standing partnership with mission leaders from that area has been a mutual benefit to both them and us. A multi-country effort named Alteco has been reaching indigenous tribal people in the Amazon jungle for years, that ordinarily could not, and would not be reached. It spans nations of South America in which the Amazon Rain Forest lies in, taking the gospel to people groups who have not been reached yet with Christ. I personally had that opportunity to travel to Colombia in January of 2019 to see the projects that we have been supporting all these years. As I was blown away, and humbled deeply, I hope to blog about those adventures on another day. Seeing first hand the fruit of the men and women who actually do the “work” of missions is incredible.
After being in the jungle effort with my own eyes, hands, and feet, I wrote about the project later back home. Here are my thoughts from last April:
“The Spirit of the Lord hovers over the face of the deep. Spanning and drifting over an endless sea of green, He moves above the forest blanket, the thick tangled chaos of tree arms, legs, and banners. Sweeping over this horizon, this eternal sky, moving swiftly over those lost in the darkness underneath. Souls bound with iron chains shackled on them from centuries of passed down bondage, they strain to reach, to grasp…. but too heavy is this weight they carry. They cry for freedom, crying for healing, yet unsure who or what has bound them. Through the dense jungle night, fear moves among these trees. It is a ghost of the shadows. Gripping all whom he can, taking captive the father, mother, and child alike, he knows no boundaries and carries no rulebook. Yes here, in this land of shadows, his lie has been believed. Fear trumps all other voices. There is none stronger than the fear that chokes them of the life and breath their creator desires them to inhale. The night is dark. The jungle a maddening voice of panic, sung as a trance that keeps their precious hearts at bay. They cannot see. They cannot hear. They cannot reach for the one they know to be there… moving just over them from above. And they march on.
A beat of the night, a dark tune not wished to be repeated, they dance this heritage song of shackles… of bondage… of fear. There is no other way. They know no other voice… or do they? As instilled in a young infant who feels a mother’s gaze, her voice, there arises inside of them a conscious presence of something else, something hidden, something more. Though they cry through the night, they cannot meet it. Though they search through the darkness of the forest floor, they cannot find it. Though they break free from the clutches of the trees and stand atop where they can see the sky, the heavens, it is not enough. They cannot discover this presence on their own. It is simply too much to know.
And so they dance. And so they march. And so they perish.
Arms lifted to the sky to reach the Spirit that hovers above, they need a way to meet it. They cannot reach. They cannot grasp. Breath burning lungs as they hold it with leaps of courage required to look away from Fear’s face. Fire burns inside them, but it cannot last… their breath is ready to expire. The moment is alive, a chance to be awakened. Gasping for air, it passes, and they must return to breathe the rank stench of fear once more. Their eyes return to despair, as eyes now wide in anticipation of pleasing Fear’s desire, the beauty and sparkle inside them now diminishes. They are slaves, soaked and coated deep in the burdens of what Fear demands, as the Spirit above continues moving on.
Who will meet them? Who will care?
The thick calloused feet of ancient tribes continue marching. They dance this dreaded beat of dark and evil drums. Clothed in silence. Clothed in fear. Desperate. Lost.
Who will bring the light? When will one take the torch of life to illuminate these empty souls? Will one carry the Savior’s name to them? Will one breathe compassion enough to attempt the trek of life to them? Can a lost brother, sister be loved enough that one might lay down their own to find them? Can one who holds the sweet smell of incense… the prayers of saints here on earth, join hand of man below with God above? Will one kind soul be willing to try? Is it worth the resources of one who can send? Will we all look to the same Spirit that moves over the face of this deep who loves them with intensity no soul can fathom? Will we take up the cause? Will we carry Christ’s heart? Will we reach this people?
Oh that the light of men might be passed on to those who live without Him.
4-27-19
Chuck Carr”
So friend, the Great Commission is both here on the home front, and also in every tribe and nation that people have pitched a place to live here on earth. None of us are without reason or expectation to pick up the cause and do something with it. Some of us God calls to pack our bags and head off on a far adventure. Some of us God will touch to meet the man or woman that passes you on the street each morning when you walk to work. Some teenager somewhere will be called to tell your sports teammate the reason why you don’t curse and swear like everybody else, opening an opportunity to share the reason of hope inside you… the name of Jesus who lives in you each day. Some of us can go to hospitals, some to jails, some to soup kitchens, some to executive offices… there is no place that doesn’t need Jesus, and we are the only ones who can take Him there. It is time to see the “urgency” of the matter, that people are lost, and that eternity is really forever. Picture yourself one the other side of the equation. How urgent would you want someone to act if you were the lost soul searching for the answer?
Chuck Carr