To Those Who Are Perishing

At one time or another, all believers have undoubtedly experienced some frustration in attempts to share the Gospel. The life saving message of hope that Jesus died on the cross to pay our sin debt and allow us to have a right relationship with God for eternity is so real to us, yet so foreign to unbelievers. Not to mention the many who attend church and have a works-based view of salvation that totally misses the truth that is it solely through faith alone in Christ alone.

We can easily dismiss those who don't know the saving power of the Gospel as being so wrapped up in their own sinful pleasures that following Jesus would be unappealing to them anyway. Invalidating God's grace and the saving power of Christ through the Holy Spirit is a slippery slope we need to avoid. History is full of strong Christians who've shipwrecked their testimony by making a few bad decisions. For us to have any hope of reaching the lost, we must never forget that they are truly lost.

1 Corinthians 1:18 reminds us that the word of the cross--the power of God to those of us who are saved--is folly to those who are perishing. We must always remember that the Gospel is our only basis of hope. We must always remember that those who don't know the Gospel are going to perish. And we must always remember that the Gospel is foolishness to the mind of an unbeliever. To them, the thought of us being saved from death by someone who was nailed to a cross is ridiculous and beyond belief.

John Newton, who penned the famous hymn "Amazing Grace", summed up our before and after condition: I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see. When we witness to others, we must remember that we too were once lost; just as they are. To those who are perishing--lost and blind--we must let them see the grace of God through us who are found.