Making An Investment in People

By Brian Mitchell     There is a dire need for Evangelism in the Lord’s church today. It is OUR JOB to reach out to the lost. If we don’t do it, who will? If we won’t do it, it won’t get done. If it doesn’t get done, a lot of souls will be unnecessarily lost—including ours if we never ever tried to reach out.     As I have said before—there is NO SUCH THING as an UNDERCOVER CHRISTIAN. If we belong to the Lord, are a part of the body of Christ, then we have the obligation to sow the seed of the kingdom. We are in the People Business and in the end, there is no better place to make an investment than in people. Do you remember Jesus’ last words?     Jesus said this to his disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And the next verse reads, “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9). So, these were Jesus’ last words to His disciples, but let’s travel back in time to an earlier encounter with Jesus.     This episode is recorded in Matthew 4:18 and following. It was here that Jesus was walking one day beside the Sea of Galilee, and he saw two brothers, Peter and Andrew. Peter and Andrew were common fishermen. They were working hard that day, casting their nets into the lake and pulling in their catch. That’s when Jesus came up to them and said, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Verse 20 says, “At once they left their nets and followed him.”     In essence, what Jesus said to the two of them that day was: “I understand your preoccupation with catching fish. But if you will trust me and follow me, if you will try to understand who I am and what I am up to in this world, then I will make you fishers of men. And believe me, this is an infinitely more significant endeavor than merely catching fish!”     Now, it’s important to understand that Jesus was not knocking the fishing business, any more than He would have knocked the carpentry business in which both He and his father participated. There’s nothing wrong with those occupations, nor the food business, the travel business, the insurance business, or any other wholesome business. They are all fine. But no earthly enterprise is as important as the business of bringing lost people to the cross of Christ. This soul saving enterprise should be central to the lives of all Jesus’ followers, regardless of what they do for a living.      This is Who We Are!!! Those of us who choose to follow Jesus must eventually come to the realization that there’s nothing more important than reaching people. When we do, our values will change—our focus will change—our pursuits will change. We will be seized by the realization that every other earthly activity pales in comparison with helping an individual enter into a saving relationship with the God of the universe.     When we finally come to that understanding, then we will: Live differently, Pray differently, Love differently, Work differently, Serve differently and Give differently. We will become preoccupied with people and their spiritual needs and in doing what we can to help them meet those needs. So, let me ask you a personal question: Has this kind of thing happened to you yet? Have you come to that conclusion yet?

- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net