So, the past few days, as I’ve spent time with God journaling and reading the Bible and praying, I continue to come back to the question, which has a lot of emotion behind it: Lord, why don’t you make all people see you and understand the Gospel? Why must all these people I walk around and order coffee from and live around, why don’t they see? Why have I tasted the sweetness of the Gospel, of being saved by another, when they haven’t, at least not yet? And, why aren’t people quicker to hear? There may be curiosity and there are some who hear the Gospel and immediately believe, but at times it seems that culture and man’s abuses of using the name of God for evil have put big barriers up, at least that’s the way it seems to me.
Now I can’t say that I’ve figured it all out, but I can share how the Lord has met me in this. First of all, I’ve been reading through the book of Acts in the Bible. It talks of the early church. There I see God reveal himself again and again through common men and women of that time – people who had experienced Jesus in their own lives and are quick and very outspoken in word and action.
Secondly, the Lord continues to bring to mind passages in the book of Romans, remembering that in chapter one, it says that the Gospel is “the power of God for salvation for all who believe” by faith. What I’ve continued to read and mull over has been Romans, chapter 9 and 10, where Paul shares the same sentiment with me. He says:
“I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh…”
He then goes on to talk about God being God and, thus, although we may not understand it, we’re the created one not the creator. God can do what he wants (which is only comforting because I know his character and know that he is trustworthy and for sure the source of all goodness). But then, at the end of chapter 9, he begins to talk about God’s compassion and mercy and the fact that the only way one can be saved is not through trying to be good, but instead through faith in Jesus Christ.
Then in chapter ten, this is what I love, is says this:
“ ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’ For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”
What I love about this is that it is for EVERYONE who believes. It is NEAR. And it isn’t about what we do or don’t do. It is based on God’s goodness and us just trusting in Him to carry us. And even more, it talks about God revealing himself even to those who did not seek him nor ask for him. I may not fully understand God’s ways, but He is making people whole and new. In fact, I read Acts 8 and 9 where Paul’s conversion is recounted. Paul, who persecuted the followers of Christ in his day and age, was not even too far away from God, or too much an enemy of God, that he couldn’t be saved. Nope, the Lord revealed himself to Paul and God empowered Paul to tell many about his love and way of salvation. :)
