BBD 07.31.02 Rescue the Perishing
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
07.31.02
Rescue the Perishing
"But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them,
because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then
He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers
are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into
His harvest.'"
There has been another rescue attempt that was valiant in its effort but it
has failed. The first attempt to rescue the whales was successful for most
of them with 45 being pushed back out to sea. Sadly the next day the whales
again beached themselves and again many tried to save the whales but they
could not. Why the creatures beached themselves is uncertain and there are
many possibilities. It may have been because of illness of a few of the
whales, or because of the geography of the Cape Cod area interfering with
their innate sonar or something else entirely. Needless to say it was a sad
time for those who had tried so hard to help the whales.
Have you ever made a spiritual rescue attempt and failed? You've shared
your testimony, or you've explained the way of salvation, used the four
spiritual laws, a tract, EE, CWT, or some other method of witnessing but the
person rejected Christ. It is a sad day when that happens and it is even
sadder for us when the person is a friend or relative. For many of us when
we witness to someone and the gospel is rejected we take it personally as
though the person was rejecting us personally. But that is not true. We
have fulfilled our responsibility before God being a watchman, sharing the
truth and when the gospel is rejected it is God they are rejecting.
Another aspect of rejection is that it clouds our perception of the harvest
and we tend to think that there are few that can be saved. But that is not
what our Lord says. He says and it is true even if our witnessing efforts
have been rejected that the harvest is still plentiful and the workers are
still few. If today more people were trapped in a terrorist attack on a
building in New York City would the Firefighters and Police Officers fail to
respond because not all of their rescue efforts were successful during the
9/11 attack? Of course they would respond! They would respond again with
courage, with great heroism even at the risk of losing their own lives.
Just because one rescue attempt fails does not mean that we eliminate rescue
attempts. We must continue on knowing that there will be failures but that
the harvest is still plentiful and if we faithfully share the gospel some
will be saved.
About nine years ago I shared my testimony with a man and he responded by
saying what I have heard many times by saying, "I'm not ready yet." After
hearing that response I thought there was little hope that he would ever be
saved. However, recently one of our deacons shared with me that he had
talked with the man again about his salvation and this time had responded by
sharing that he had been saved and was a Christian. Amazing! Even though
it may appear that we have failed we may still have sowed a seed into their
lives that others will water and eventually the harvest of their soul will
occur.
Don't give up. Keep on witnessing. Keep on trying to rescue the perishing
because the harvest is indeed plentiful!!
Copyright © 2002. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the
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