Going into the this holiday season has been interesting knowing that we are going to be on the other side of the world next year. I have spent time thinking about the traditions that we have that we will be missing out on while we are away. Along with these thoughts I have also come to look at Christmas just a little bit differently than I had before.
It struck me as we were singing joy to the world what a narrow view I have always had of Christmas and Christianity in general. With my mind on where we will be next year I finally understood it… joy to the WORLD. Not just the USA or the westernized countries…the world. It seems that as many times as I had sung that song, I had always focused on joy rather than the fact that it to be shared by everyone.
The biggest reason that we decided to go on the world race is because it makes my heart ache to think that there are people out there that have never even heard of Jesus, let alone had the opportunity to experience the joy of knowing Him. I think so often we forget that the gospel is for everyone, even the people that live in places that are not open to Him yet. I know that personally I tend to forget that the Gospel message is for people that live in Iraq or Iran or Afghanistan as much as it is for us in the USA. Yes, these countries are hostile to Christianity, however they were still created by the same God and the same God that has accepted us as his children wants them to accept Him.
I am certainly not saying that I want to go to these countries tomorrow and start preaching. If I thought people were nervous for us now, I can't even imagine what the response would be if we headed there. However we are going to Vietnam and Cambodia which are scary to many because in recent history they were war torn, but now we have an opportunity to preach the good news. I am exceptionally excited to head to Turkey as they are a primarily Islamic nation with strong views on God, but don't know the saving grace of Christ.
My desire is for everyone to have heard the love of Christ. It breaks my heart to think that people suffer eternal condemnation because they have followed the traditions of their country not really understanding that there is another option. I cannot continue to live life in a way that doesn't acknowledge that people are literally going to hell because they don't know Christ. I pray that was we go out on our journey we will be able to share the great joy of the gospel with the WORLD.
