A Life that Counts

In the city where I grew up, there are burial grounds of European missionaries who died while preaching the gospel in Africa. Those missionaries died and were buried in the land because they came to preach the gospel. Some of these missionaries attended the best universities like Harvard and Oxford, but they saw a higher call and were willing to give their lives for it. Today, many in Africa are believers because of their sacrifice. Many lives have been physically and eternally spared because of their sacrifice. I can still remember the story of how a missionary called Mary Slessor was the one the Lord used to end the ritual killing of infant twins in the southernmost part of Nigeria.

When I look at many believers today, I have a great concern in my heart, because the emphasis and pursuits of many believers are for vain things. Believers who love their lives too much (and love the world) cannot effectively pass the light of the gospel to the next generation (see John 12:25, Revelation 12:11, 1 John 2:15).

When the gospel was first preached [in Jerusalem], it was by a handful of people who were willing to give it all (both those on the frontline of apostolic missions and those who gave their resources to send them). Today, over two billion people on earth are called Christians, and many millions have come to know the Lord personally. But this didn’t happen without a great company of people intentionally committed to spreading God’s word.

Even in the 19th century when there was a great missionary movement, and many parts of Africa evangelized, there were still some believers who loved the world too much and didn’t want to inconvenience themselves for the gospel, but there were those who considered the Kingdom as the most important thing in their lives. All the believers in that generation are now physically dead, but some of them have crowns and eternal rewards stored up for them (2 Timothy 4:8), while some others would be ashamed before the Lord (1 John 2:28). Even though the people from that generation are no more in this world, they are still very much alive and conscious, and some are in joy while others are in eternal sorrow and damnation.

Go into today determining to be among the company of those who publish the word of the Lord in your generation. A life that counts is one committed to spreading The Kingdom.

Prayer: Lord, help me live a life that counts in your eternal scheme of things. Help me fulfill my part in what you are doing in my generation. Amen.
—Abraham Damilola Arigi

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Bible in 1 Year: Ezekiel 19-24 (in today’s audio)

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