Good morning Lord Jesus, Father ad Spirit I rest here i the quiet of my morning seeking complete unity of all that I am with all that you are…
Today's challenge looks reaching out to the lost, those who don't know the love of Jesus Christ. This passage comes to my mind. My thoughts on it follow.
"There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-32.
One thing I understand from this passage is that there is compassion for the lost in hell. The rich man begs for his 5 brothers to be warned about the reality of hell and separation from God. Even though they rejected life in Christ, those in hell have compassion and beg and plead that their loved ones and other do not join them. You and I who do know the love and life in Christ Jesus, how much greater and urgent should our outreach be to those who don't know Christ? If you cannot invest the time it takes in discipleship and strive to imitate our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, please at least imitate those in in hell and their compassion for the lost.
Link to today's day 29 challenge:
