Dear reader,
There is an overwhelming busyness in our lives. A lot is preoccupying our lives. At the end of the day, we account for how we have used our time and resources. It never stops until we breathe our last. If you are running an enterprise, you are surely advised that you ought to account for your merchandise to make proceeds out of it. What kind of busyness is this that shall demand our account when the Master returns?
This morning, Lance and I attended a service at Christ Baptist Church in Polokwane. A missionary by the name William preached on a passage from Luke 19:11-17, the parable of the ten minas. “Our Master has left us with the task to engage in His business until He comes“. He has revealed the reason as to why He came into the world in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost”. When all is said and done, one thing is certain for sure. That our Master has left us with a very important business worth attending to and being preoccupied with. He hasn’t left us to do it open-endedly. He will demand an account at the end of the day. The business has been entrusted to our stewardship as we anticipate his return. It is the work of advancing the Gospel.
Looking at the first section of Adoniram’s life (pages 3-17), his early life, conversion, and missionary calling to India, I see a man battling with one main life’s question for every believer: “How do Christians discharge the trust committed to them? They let three-fourths of the world sleep the sleep of death, ignorant of the simple truth that a Saviour died for them? ” But just like any other credible labour, the Master’s work demands our utmost attention.
Do you know what it will cost you to faithfully advance the gospel? It will cost you everything. Well, you may never travel to a distant land as a missionary like Adoniram. But there are people around you who have never truly heard the gospel. It will cost you words spoken and deeds done on behalf of the Master to advance the gospel.
Perhaps you might not be able to support the advancement of the Gospel financially. But it might cost you a good amount of prayer time for missions and evangelism in Benoni and across the world. Praying for the work to advance and a burden to bear for the sake of the Gospel. It might cost you a lifetime of prayer for the work until He returns. Until the Master returns, the work hasn’t stopped yet.
Maybe you feel the need to spread the gospel and live it faithfully, but you believe you lack the great skills and talents to do it like the Apostles and great missionaries in the past. It will only cost you this: your time in prayer and studying the word, until you see nobody else in scripture but Christ and Him crucified. That’s all you need. And that’s all the Master has given to you to make much out of it as a faithful Steward. The mission field might not be as far as you think; it begins from your home and extends to the rest of the world.
Did you know that here in Benoni Baptist church, we support missionaries? Have you known yet that there is already an ongoing bible translation by people that we know? We aren’t there yet; we need the burden. The burden for faithful stewardship of the Gospel and making the most out of it with our lives. That the Kingdom of God may grow. And that you may give a proper account of your Christian walk.
Isaac Watts reckons the cost when he surveys the Wondrous Cross of Christ,
“Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Share in the Master’s burden, might your eyes be set upon the Lord and His Gospel, to whom you shall give an account. This is how you can do it:
- Speak to Pastor Mark or any of our elders. Ask how you can be involved.
- Get to practically attend any of our ministries. See how you can serve.
- Pray for the advancement of the Gospel in Benoni.
- If you have never heard or believed the Gospel for salvation, visit our website and reach out to Pastor Mark. Make no delay, the day of the Lord is at hand.
Grace and peace to you,
Evans Odhiambo.