Grow & Go - January 2025
Let Us Work While It Is Day
I recently led the annual Missions Study during the International Mission Board (IMB) Week Of Prayer at the monthly luncheon here at Oakhill Baptist Church. Afterwards, numerous people came up to me describing some of the interesting things they had learned about the Central Asian peoples and their beliefs from the study. One of the most interesting and profound things that were shared with me that had resonated with one of the hearers was not just about the sheer vastness of lost people that make up the Central Asian peoples or, the amount of people groups that inhabit these eleven countries. No, it was a surprisingly simple observation that was made concerning a 1-minute video about the Central Asian people. Within this video was a glimpse of a man, in a city some 6,000+ miles away just taking out a trash can. It was the same kind of old dirty plastic garbage can that we would have here and haul our garbage to the curb in. It was profound because he was doing the same routine that we probably do on the same day, every week, of every year. I am not certain how this affected the person who shared this with me, but it caused me to reflect simply on his humanity, how short our lives really are, and that while we have breath it matters that we do things from an eternal perspective.
The man we saw in this short 1-minute clip is made in the image of God (Gen 1:26-28), with infinite value, and infinite worth. He was doing his normal routine of things he likely does every week at the same time. And just like us, he probably has the same sinful urges, desires, wants, needs, and issues that he must face every day. What is striking about this, however, is unlike us, he probably has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ where only 0.01% of the Muslim population who live in this part of the world are Christians. And likely, because he lives in a Muslim country that is closed off to the gospel of Jesus Christ, he is trying to work for his salvation by following the 5-pillars of Islam. Seeing this man in the video was just a simple reminder that in the ordinary, everyday stuff of life, the gospel is a reality and that all people have to respond to it.
There is not a person who lives on this earth who has breath that does not have a God- given purpose. Just like the man in the video, each of us has dreams and aspirations, things we want out of life. Jesus however reminds us in John 9:4 that “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” There will come a time when we can work no more. A time when we will not have to toil and drag the dirty old trash can out to the curb again. Each of us must realize that the goals we have in this life are fleeting and perishing with us and the eternal is where we need to focus. And more importantly, there will be a time when Christ returns, and we will no longer be able to work to share the gospel.
This John 9 passage is about a man who had lived his entire life blind and in darkness. Then Christ entered the fold bringing both the man’s physical sight and the light of a new life, no longer to be separated from God by his sin. This “work, while it is day” (v. 4), is a reminder to us as we read that we need not waste the time we have remaining while there is still “light”. Why? Because Christ, “The Light” will return and people such as the man in the video and the lost people we know will no longer have time to respond to the gospel. The reality is, that the gospel is urgent because we as Christ’s followers only have the appointed time that God has ordained for each of us to share it. Let us make it a point this week to share the gospel with someone. I would love to hear about it!