If God’s people and God’s preachers look at the world from a perspective that includes our Father, His Son, and His Spirit, we have choices that we are forced to make. Some would say that the world has never been as wicked and evil as it is today. I would argue that if we believe that, we need to go back and restudy the history of the world as viewed through scripture. Ask Noah, virtually any of the prophets, and Paul, as well as his contemporaries, how they saw their world.
Jesus made it abundantly clear how His followers are to react when He was talking to His Father. “But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:13-19)
The Holy Spirit made it clear that when the world is upside down, we are to proclaim the Good News (Romans 1:15-17). He also commanded us to speak the “truth in love.” (Ephesians 4:15). The Good News spoken in love always invites people to “come to the feast.” The Gospel welcomes those who have been living in darkness to come to the light of the world. It invites those who are thirsty to drink from the living water. It welcomes those who are hungry to enjoy the Bread of Life. As surely as God invites those who are not His people to become a part of His Family, He demands that those who come to Him must repent. We must change who we are in our hearts. We can do this only because He is the God who is rich in mercy, and He loves us with a love that cannot be explained.
Because our world is dark, just as it has always been, God’s preachers, His people, must not quit. Now is not the time for us to quit loving those who are without Christ and without God in the world. Now is not the time for us to quit sharing the Good News that changes lives. Now is not the time for us to quit preaching the truth, the whole counsel of God. Now is not the time for us to quit preaching the truth in love. Now is not the time to quit exposing the darkness in our world through the light of Jesus. Now is not the time to quit loving people like God loves them and like He loved us when we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Now is not the time for us to forget that when our Savior came into the world, He brought grace & truth! Now is not the time to quit!
