Where Are They?
Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. – Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. – John 3:16-18 NKJV.
Sometimes Jeanie, Nick and I go to cemeteries to find where our ancestors are buried. On our recent trip to Texas we visited a couple of cemeteries where some of Jeanie’s ancestors are buried. When I walk through a cemetery I always try to read at least some of the inscriptions on the headstones. Some just had the names and dates, others had short inscriptions, and some are now unreadable. I liked the inscription on Jeanie’s three great-grandmother’s headstone which says, “She died as she lived trusting in God.”
You can’t walk through a cemetery like that without being touched by the tragedies of life. So many lives cut short, many while only children. With each headstone you see a marker representing lives lived out here on Planet Earth. As I look at the headstones I wonder sometimes whether they knew Jesus as their Savior. I wonder where those people are at now? Are they with Jesus, or are they in that other place of torment?
There are so many people going out into eternity each day. They are all around us. Does anyone care about their souls? God says that He cares. Not only does He say that, but He also demonstrated it through Jesus suffering and dying on the cross. John 3:16 tells us of God’s great love. But how will these people on their way to eternity without a Savior ever know of God’s love? God has a plan and it involves you and me. What is the plan? God says to you and me, “Go therefore….” in Matthew 28:19.
God cares, but do we? Do we care enough to be obedient to the command of God? Do we care enough to share with someone lost and on their way to an eternity of terror how to have salvation? We say we care, but do our actions demonstrate that we actually do? We have an example, His name is Jesus, and He cared enough to die for you and me. How much do we really care?
(God cares about us so much that Jesus died in our place on the cross. But do we have the same concern about others? We have been given a command, “Go therefore….” Are we obedient to that command?)