Today in my quiet time I was reading out of the book of Ezekiel. In the twenty-second chapter in the thirtieth verse God says, “I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” As I read this verse it got me thinking about Nazi Germany and the silent majority who allowed Hitler and his sycophants to exterminate eleven million people. It makes me think about the silent majority of Muslims who allow militant Muslims to terrorize the world and do nothing to stop it. Even further than these examples, however, it got me thinking about the church in the United States that allows millions of unborn babies die every year and yet we, as the silent majority, really do not do anything. We do not let this issue affect our political position regarding government. We do not let it affect the way we approach adoption. We don’t let it affect the way we teach sex education in our school systems. It got me asking the question, “Am I one to whom the Lord could look and see someone standing in the gap for Him in this land?” I fear the answer is a resounding, “NO!” I make this statement because in the arenas in which I walk, people know my stand on all biblical issues that deal with evangelism, abortion, addiction and on and on I could write. The problem I see is the environments in which I communicate my “convictions” are safe. I preach in a church where I still have the religious liberty to voice my “convictions,” but what if the laws were to change and I could not preach the Bible any longer, would I? It is easy to preach in this safe environment. What about my blog, Facebook or Twitter accounts? Once again, it is a safe place. I write some nice thoughts and put them out there in cyber space where there are no actual flesh and blood confrontations for my faith. You either like my posts or you don’t, but engagement with me is sterile and not real. I fear I am not doing enough for the Kingdom of God. I fear God may be looking at my life and saying, “Scott is not standing in the gap for me either.” It is my prayer in 2016 that my life become a life of distinction this year. It is my desire to be more engaging with the lost community and to stand more vocally firm in unsafe arenas for the cause of Jesus. I would covet your prayers as I ask the Lord to stretch my life and to make me one whom He can say, “Yes, Scott is standing in the gap for me!” Will you join me in this prayer and conviction? Will you pursue Christ with all of who you are knowing that if you do, He will change your safe comfort zone. I pray you will.
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