If you ever happen to meet one of those bubbly, happy all the time Christians, you know, the ones who just want to tell you about the joy of Jesus they feel inside of their heart, ask them this question, “How many people, how many lost souls did you witness to in the last week?”
“Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.” (Eccl. 7:3)
I don’t believe you will get much of a response, in fact most of them will ask to be excused from your presence, “Pressing matters, don’t you know.”
Mocked, ridiculed, threatened, persecuted, this is the life of the man or woman of God who seeks the lost, the one that has obeyed the commandment of the Lord to go out into all the world, to witness to all who will listen of His grace and mercy. The lights of this world walk in darkness, always seeking, rarely finding, but that does not hinder us. “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5)
We speak foreign words to them, words like redemption, grace, mercy. We talk of a Holy, righteous God who is Sovereign over all of creation, One that they will indeed meet one day, and we try to warn them that where they will spend eternity is not a nice place if they do not repent. The bubbly, happy Christian does not usually do a lot of witnessing to the wicked, they do not spend a lot of time in the most desperate, wicked parts of town, they do not hold starving children in their arms as they take their last breath. Most generally though they are in church every Sunday, happy to sing the songs, desiring to help with the fellowship meal next week, or signing up to help mow the yard or take the young ones on a field trip.
You will not find a lot of them in prison ministries, in the mission field, or down at the soup kitchen. They do not usually help out in places of extreme poverty and sorrow, where broken men and women live on the street.
I will not compare them to the two who passed by the man lying dying in the street, (Luke 10:31-32) though I am not sure that I could compare them to the Samaritan who stopped to help that man either. They will show up to that special service when the missionary arrives to seek for financial help, for continued prayers for the glory of God in that far away land, but “Oh, I just don’t know if I could do that!” will be as close as they will ever get to those who are in need in those far away places, much less those on the other side of town who live out of dumpsters on a regular basis.
Frustration becomes a part of the life of the one who has been crucified with Christ, for he meets those on a regular basis whom he knows that if they die today, they will open their eyes in hell a few moments later.
Pain of the heart, sorrow in the soul, anger even at those he can see running headlong towards the abyss of eternal damnation, but bubbly does not describe the one who serves the Most High.
I return again to one I admire, “Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.” (Jer. 7:27) More than twenty years with the knowledge of what was going to happen to his people, his kinsmen, his friends and family. Jeremiah was not bubbly, he was not the life of the party, in fact, I doubt he was ever invited to one.
Ask them when you meet them, ask them who they have spoken to in the last week, and ask them, if my guess is right, why they have not spoken to anyone of those lost souls. Perhaps I am wrong, but my guess is that you will see that bubbly smile disappear in a hurry.
