I step into the spongey, damp sod of someone’s lawn to stare across the street while waiting for a speeding car to pass. The bittersweet orange brick with a sloping roof and a stately symmetrical frame absorbs my eyes, eclipsing the neighbors’ ranch-style homes.
Nobody’s home.
Wait–why would I even conclude that? I scan the neighbor’s lot and my eyes return to their focus. The ambitiously seeded out grass would leap halfway up my shin. Wasps have staked their claim with a network of papery fortresses overlooking the front door. A laminated note is slapped crookedly just under the brass knocker. I don’t have to read it to guess at its proclamation!
I walk on, passing the melodious chatter of children snapping their helmets into place and shoving their pedals into cycle. Why did that even stand out to me? I feel a twinge of emptiness that they’re not there. The mist has lifted, yet a heaviness remains. If only even one more family could enjoy this neighborhood!
Darkness, death, decay: the shadows of desolate buildings ominously point to our own mortality. We have no power to keep ourselves alive forever! “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Therefore, I look forward to heaven, where no abandoned homes will be allowed to haunt “….the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Hebrews 11:10). I yearn for as many neighbors as possible to enjoy it with me, for “My Father’s house has many rooms….” (John 14:2). “So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find” (Matthew 22:9), “for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:13-14).
I’m motivated to share the Gospel with others both because of the good news and the warning: “He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.'” (Revelation 21:6-8).
Though I am preparing to go abroad to tell others of Jesus, street corners and people in need are present everywhere. And I’m learning that any little thing–even a vacant house–can be an opening to launch conversations about Jesus and invite others to know Him. Paul set this example in relating to others through his environment: when he entered Athens, he observed, “For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you” (Acts 17:23).
In addition to avoiding the sting of death and punishment, heaven will be magnificent, with gold and gargantuan pearls (Revelation 21:21). However, my focus is to live in loving relationship with the person of Jesus Christ–the One who is worthy, the One whom I love. No one can hold a candle to my King: “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:22-23). May I be increasingly enamored with the delights of who He is, what He says, and what He does (past, present, and future), that I may talk less and less about myself until all others hear about while in my presence is the latest news about the One I love! I want to share this love with others, that they also may join in saying, “‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’” (Revelation 5:12).
Father, thank You for making a way to save us from eternal death. Please forgive me for my selfishness when I have kept silent about Your salvation. I ask You to work Your boldness in me, that I may be quick to invite others to Your banquet! May You prepare the hearts of those who hear to accept Your invitation. Also, Lord, I ask You to forgive me for my self-centeredness in thinking any part of life is about me, and that You would help me to be centered on and in You in every way, for You are worthy. I pray this also for all Your saints, present and future. Thank You for guiding our feet and keeping us from stumbling! Amen.
