I'll never forget it. In fact, I had been asking God to give me something like this so I could write about it and tell others about it. We were in Florence visiting Ashley's family, and we were on our way to a restaurant after church on Sunday to eat lunch. As we rounded a corner, there it was, the perfect example of symbolism I had been asking for.
I saw what was left of a carpet store off to my right. It had been burned to ashes. The whole building looked like it had been bombed. Blackened siding and charred carpet remains were all that could be seen. Do you know what was next door? A fire station. Yep. I never researched the incident in the local papers or anything, but I've always wondered where the firemen were while the carpet store next door burned down into oblivion. I don't know the whole story, so I can't sit here and blame them for something they might not have done, but I can relate this to our life as Christians in America.
Any Biblical, Christ-driven church is going to have a heart for missions. In America, our churches are all about training up missionaries and sending them on their way into the deepest, darkest jungles of Africa, the desolate deserts of the Middle East, or any other foreign land. You know what I say? BRAVO. Seriously, bravo for taking the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. In fact, Jesus both commanded it (Matthew 28) and prophesied it's commencement (Matthew 24:14). I am for foreign missions. But, did Jesus assume that we would forget about our own backyard, just like what happened with that carpet store right next store to the fire station?
We should be concerned for the lost in foreign countries, but not at the expense of the lost person next door. Folks, no matter how you twist it, America is post-Christianity. There is no denying it. Just turn on the TV. Read the newspaper. Talk to a co-worker. Yes, there is a "form of godliness" in America, but the majority is "denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). America needs full-time missionaries that will step up and preach God's righteousness and holiness just as much as Africa needs it. And I'm talking full-time. Yes, we should commission people and send them off, but why not send them off to Las Vegas or anywhere else? Commission them to go and preach repentance and Judgment Day on the steps of some of the mega-churches, whose preachers preach "peace, peace" when there is no peace.
We can not sit here and put out fires in foreign lands and watch our next door neighbor's place burn into ashes.
I saw what was left of a carpet store off to my right. It had been burned to ashes. The whole building looked like it had been bombed. Blackened siding and charred carpet remains were all that could be seen. Do you know what was next door? A fire station. Yep. I never researched the incident in the local papers or anything, but I've always wondered where the firemen were while the carpet store next door burned down into oblivion. I don't know the whole story, so I can't sit here and blame them for something they might not have done, but I can relate this to our life as Christians in America.
Any Biblical, Christ-driven church is going to have a heart for missions. In America, our churches are all about training up missionaries and sending them on their way into the deepest, darkest jungles of Africa, the desolate deserts of the Middle East, or any other foreign land. You know what I say? BRAVO. Seriously, bravo for taking the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world. In fact, Jesus both commanded it (Matthew 28) and prophesied it's commencement (Matthew 24:14). I am for foreign missions. But, did Jesus assume that we would forget about our own backyard, just like what happened with that carpet store right next store to the fire station?
We should be concerned for the lost in foreign countries, but not at the expense of the lost person next door. Folks, no matter how you twist it, America is post-Christianity. There is no denying it. Just turn on the TV. Read the newspaper. Talk to a co-worker. Yes, there is a "form of godliness" in America, but the majority is "denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). America needs full-time missionaries that will step up and preach God's righteousness and holiness just as much as Africa needs it. And I'm talking full-time. Yes, we should commission people and send them off, but why not send them off to Las Vegas or anywhere else? Commission them to go and preach repentance and Judgment Day on the steps of some of the mega-churches, whose preachers preach "peace, peace" when there is no peace.
We can not sit here and put out fires in foreign lands and watch our next door neighbor's place burn into ashes.
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