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"U is for the Unsaved"
Have you ever spent hours working on a project, drafting correspondence, or writing an essay on the computer only to come back later and find that none of it was saved? At first it’s hard to believe. Surely, you think, it must be saved somewhere! Perhaps you’ve just misplaced it or forgotten what you named the file? You search frantically. Annoyance becomes anger; anger becomes fear; fear becomes despair. You realize all that effort has been wasted: you’re back to square one.
The difference between losing your work on a computer and losing souls in the real world, however, is that there is no do-over where people are concerned. Given the right initiative and a little extra time, we can replace or recover what is lost digitally. No such mechanism exists in spiritual matters: what is lost at death is lost for good.
We absolutely must take prayerful action where the unsaved are concerned! They are not merely nameless, faceless masses, vast oceans and continents away; they are people you know right in your own town, your school, your workplace, perhaps even within your own family.
Consider the unsaved who may be attending church services with you week after week. Not everyone in the pews around you has necessarily made the same commitment to Christ that you have. Of the roughly 7.4 billion people on Earth, only some 2 billion or so profess to be Christians. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, separating “the sheep from the goats” as it were (Matthew 25:32) – by which I mean those who talk-the-talk versus those who walk-the-walk of Christ – that number is likely even lower. (Matthew 7:21)
The unsaved aren’t always easy to spot. And, once spotted, they can oftentimes be even harder to reach. It takes time, patience, prayer, and relationships to find and reach them. And if you’re already putting in the work of relationship-building with the unsaved but haven’t gotten to “the Jesus part,” you haven’t reached anyone yet. Much like those lost computer files, your work is still unsaved.
The burden of prayer rests squarely on our shoulders where the unsaved are concerned. Simply put, they cannot save themselves. (John 3:3, 6:44; 2 Peter 3:9)
Have you ever spent hours working on a project, drafting correspondence, or writing an essay on the computer only to come back later and find that none of it was saved? At first it’s hard to believe. Surely, you think, it must be saved somewhere! Perhaps you’ve just misplaced it or forgotten what you named the file? You search frantically. Annoyance becomes anger; anger becomes fear; fear becomes despair. You realize all that effort has been wasted: you’re back to square one.
The difference between losing your work on a computer and losing souls in the real world, however, is that there is no do-over where people are concerned. Given the right initiative and a little extra time, we can replace or recover what is lost digitally. No such mechanism exists in spiritual matters: what is lost at death is lost for good.
We absolutely must take prayerful action where the unsaved are concerned! They are not merely nameless, faceless masses, vast oceans and continents away; they are people you know right in your own town, your school, your workplace, perhaps even within your own family.
Consider the unsaved who may be attending church services with you week after week. Not everyone in the pews around you has necessarily made the same commitment to Christ that you have. Of the roughly 7.4 billion people on Earth, only some 2 billion or so profess to be Christians. And if we’re being honest with ourselves, separating “the sheep from the goats” as it were (Matthew 25:32) – by which I mean those who talk-the-talk versus those who walk-the-walk of Christ – that number is likely even lower. (Matthew 7:21)
The unsaved aren’t always easy to spot. And, once spotted, they can oftentimes be even harder to reach. It takes time, patience, prayer, and relationships to find and reach them. And if you’re already putting in the work of relationship-building with the unsaved but haven’t gotten to “the Jesus part,” you haven’t reached anyone yet. Much like those lost computer files, your work is still unsaved.
The burden of prayer rests squarely on our shoulders where the unsaved are concerned. Simply put, they cannot save themselves. (John 3:3, 6:44; 2 Peter 3:9)
About this Plan
One of the greatest struggles many Christians face has nothing to do with the avoidance or rejection of any one sin, but rather with the neglect of intentional, meaningful prayer. Setting aside the time to pray can be a challenge. What’s more, making sure to pray the right way and for the right reasons (Matthew 6:5-18) can be just as challenging. “Being P.R.A.Y.E.R.F.U.L.” is designed with such challenges in mind.
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