January 12, 2003
And Jesus was going about all the
cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the
gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of
sickness. And seeing the multitudes - -
-
What
an evangelist was our Lord! He, more
than anyone, saw the spiritual needs of mankind and poured out His heart and
soul to reach them for eternity. Yet
His time on earth was brief so He conveys the spiritual need of the multitudes
to His disciples and explains how they can meet those needs. By way of application we see our
participation in meeting the spiritual needs of today’s world.
1.
We must acquaint
ourselves with the spiritual needs of people.
“And seeing the multitudes, He
felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep
without a shepherd.”
When
Jesus saw the needs of people, He was moved.
Jesus had a true missionary heart.
He loved people and had compassion on them, knowing what they were
like. (See also Luke 19:10.)
It
is easy to theorize about the needs of the world. It is when we are exposed to the stark reality of spiritual
darkness that God is able to work compassion into our hearts. How is this accomplished? Reading first-hand reports, on the spot
exposure to missionaries in action.
“They were like sheep having no
shepherd.” Men have not changed in this respect. Man, with all of his integrity and worldly skill, still has no
direction regarding spiritual and eternal matters.
2.
We must assess
the missionary situation accurately. “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest
is plentiful but the workers are few.’ ”
There
is a plentiful harvest. (See also Matthew 7:13.) Let’s look about us. Is
not our society teeming with people?
And yet there are few workers.
There is never a balance in the mission field. The lion’s share of the work has always been done by the
few. By-and-large missionary work is a
selfless work, often thankless and unappreciated by many in the church.
3.
We must ask God
to activate workers for His harvest. “Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest
to send out workers into His harvest.”
Our
Lord instructs His disciples to begin meeting the needs by praying! The Holy Spirit is the One who activates
workers for the mission field. (See
Acts 13:1-3 and Acts 16.) Prayer is
where we should begin. Let’s ask
ourselves how much do we pray for the spiritual needs of the multitudes? Not as much as we should, I’m sure.
Let’s
covenant with the Lord and ourselves, this New Year, to spend more time in
prayer for people without Jesus Christ.
Then let’s make ourselves available to Him, as workers in the fields
“white unto harvest.” God bless.
Love
to all,