YOUR PASTOR’S HEART

“Tell Them”

In his book, The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, Charles Morris describes the economic crash that came to a head last September. He traces the history of American economics from the last half of the 20^th century, taking note of financial and political agendas that have brought us into the current crisis. He shares in detail the events that happened when poor lending practices finally gave way to the glut of foreclosures and bankruptcies that made headlines and captivated us this Fall. But get this, he wrote his book months before the credit bubble burst! Published in February of 2008, he writes, “The sad truth, however, is that subprime [defaults] are just the first big boulders in an avalanche of asset write-downs that will rattle on through much of 2008.”

Now, I understood about half of what he wrote about. The details of current economics are pretty confusing to me. However, I couldn’t help but be amazed that someone knew the crash was coming, sounded the warning, and yet the calamity still marched through the headlines of our world. How frustrating it must have been for him and those who shared his perspective. Ruin and chaos are around the corner, and no one is paying attention to the warning.

Now, that is something I can understand. As a church, we have been given the mission to tell the people of our world that they are living in peril, in danger of spending an eternity separated from God. However, so many of our friends and fellow citizens choose to ignore the message. It can be frustrating, can’t it?

Yet our Lord does not charge us with convincing or coercing those who need to hear the message. Our job is to simply tell them the truth. Our job is to sound the warning. Our job is to proclaim the Word.

Take heart, my friend. We have a story to tell, and we will tell it. The crowd will respond how they will. Some will turn in rejection. Some will close their eyes in ignorance. Others may even work to keep us quiet. Oh, but some will say ‘yes’ and bend their knee in worship of our Savior. God will not allow his Word to return to Him void. On the day Christ comes back, might we be found faithful to the task that has been charged to us!

It’s a joy to be your pastor!

Bro. Dave