When Will They Know?

When I was younger, I used to wonder about why people weren't coming to Christ. I mean, what's the problem? The promise is for wonderful stuff like "love, joy, peace" (Gal 5:22), being right with God (Rom 5:1), eternal life (John 3:16), every need met (Php 4:19) ... you get the idea. Who would not want all this ... and more? It's not like the gospel is difficult to understand. "Believe and be saved." The Christian group, Petra, sang, "When will the world see that we need Jesus?" That was my question.

I've actually heard quite a few on this and similar topics. What do we have to do to get everyone to Christ? They offer lots of ideas, but they, essentially, boil down to "Be perfect." No, none of them say it, but clearly to achieve perfection in evangelism we have to be perfect. Or ... do we? Scripture disagrees. When will the world see that we need Jesus? Well, according to Scripture, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God" (2 Cor 4:4). According to God's Word, humans are "dead in the trespasses and sins," "following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:1-2). According to the Bible, "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor 2:14). According to Jesus, "No one can come to Me unless it is granted him by the Father" (John 6:65). Apparently ... the problem is not our lifestyles or delivery.

We should have a passion to share the gospel (Mark 16:15), to make disciples (Matt 28:18-28), to be witnesses "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8). No doubt. We should be living examples of Christ, especially in the area of loving one another. We should be better at sharing and living the gospel. But... we aren't the last word. When will the world know that we need Jesus? When their minds are renewed, when they are made alive together with Him, when they are in Christ, when the Father grants it. In other words, God has the last word. We just carry the message in word and deed. He gets the results. Because the point at which the entire world will see that they need Jesus will be on that final judgment day. Until then, it's entirely up the God.