To Whom Much Is Given ...

Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isaiah 55:6 NKJV).

The implications of this verse are very disturbing.  There will come a time when God cannot be found and when He will not be near.  But why should this be disturbing when He has been saying this for countless ages.  There is not a single person who has read the Bible who can claim ignorance of the fact that we live in a special dispensation of grace in which we are able to find the Lord when we seek and draw near to Him by an earnest desire to do so.  Yet that is the problem – not everyone has read the Bible.  And as one of the privileged few who have, there is a great responsibility that comes with that honor.  Luke 12:48 says:

… For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; … (Luke 12:48 NKJV)

We know from the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God and from Scripture that everything from the color of our eyes to the place of our birth was chosen by God for a purpose.  He knit us in our mothers’ wombs and He even decided who would be our mother, who would be our father, and where our mother would live when it came time for our birth.  We see these dynamics in the lives of Joseph, Moses, Ester, and most poignantly, Jesus. 

So, the very fact that we were born in a country where the Bible is readily available, that is at least in theory 85% Christian, where we have the freedom to believe as we please, and where the knowledge of God is as common as cell phones, means that we are the ones to whom God will look as those who are predominantly responsible to get this information to the world.

The Great Commission is not for a select few.  And I have heard it said that we are either “goers” or “senders,” but everyone has a part.  This verse in Isaiah puts urgency to whichever part we are going to play.  We have a specified amount of time – the length of which no one knows – in which to accomplish the task given to us in Matthew 28:

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen (Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV).

It is that “end of the age” part that should haunt us because we don’t know when the end of this period of grace will occur in which God can be found by seeking and He will draw near when we call.   And we also know that because of our position of privilege, we shoulder the lion’s share of the burden to get this done.

As I consider the principles God has given me today, I realize that I am part of the sending team as I use my life to ready those who will go.  Yet, I am also struck by the reality that there are many still in Whitefish, MT who have never read the Bible and who do not know about the closing window of grace.  I must guard against slipping into the mindset that I’ve done enough by sending.  I must always be ready to be the one sent when God opens the door for me to share the reason for the hope that I have of Heaven.  Because, like Noah, I do not know the day or hour in which there will be no further opportunity to save souls from damnation.  And on the day that window closes, I will have to watch in horror as they are condemned for all eternity and I don’t want to know that I could have done more.   That would be very disturbing.