Three Reminders Today on the Urgency of Witnessing

As I have shared, I am the Senior Chaplain with the Paulding County (GA) Sheriff’s Office. Last Wednesday, as I rode with deputies, three things occurred in our county that reminded me of the urgency of sharing the Gospel with everyone we can.

The morning began with a call to a very nice sub-division where a young man had hung himself. I do not know the circumstances that led him to see his life as so hopeless that suicide seemed the thing to do, but he obviously saw it as the only solution to his problems.

Shortly thereafter a call came in where a man had a gun and apparently was making threats to use it. When deputies arrived they found him barricaded in his house. After several hours of a stand-off, the deputies made entry and found the man had shot himself. He was alive, but barely, and the outlook for his survival was poor. Again, a man who saw things as so hopeless, he would choose to take his life.

In early afternoon, a call went out that a wanted person had been spotted. She left before deputies arrived, and after about 20 minutes of being followed by her husband who was reporting her location, she was stopped and arrested. As I talked with her husband, I discovered that this mother of a 5 year old had left her family and gone back to using drugs. She reportedly had seven felony warrants for her arrest. Evidently she saw drugs as the way to cope with pain in her life. What a sad Christmas for a husband and a little girl.

With each of these people I wondered, “Has anyone ever told them how to have their sins forgiven, come into a love relationship with the God of the universe, and have meaning and purpose in their lives? We know that hearing the Gospel does not mean they would have received Jesus Christ as their Lord, but they may have.

As we celebrate His coming into the world this Christmas, let’s remember that “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” and that He said, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

I encourage you to make this your wake up prayer each morning (even before you get out of bed),

“Lord, you kept here another day so I can glorify you. One of the greatest ways is to tell others what You have done for me, and what You will do for them, if they want you to. Help me share Jesus with as many people today as I can.”

Have a very witnessing Christmas!