Day 2793 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Isaiah 6:9 NIV

I used to have this t-shirt that said "I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you." At the time, I just though it a funny expression. But as I've gotten older and watched more of how the world works and set my heart to growing in faith and sharing the truth of God's Word, I've come to realize just how sadly true that t-shirt was. And that idea underscores the difficulty faced in this effort that we've been called to undertake.

You see, we're in world that pretty much couldn't care less about actually understanding things. People are so lost in their opinions and pre-conceived notions that they have lost all interest in understanding anything else. We're to the point where people won't even listen to any message that doesn't mesh with their beliefs, let alone actually sit with a truth that's contradictory to their own and consider the gravity of the differences. People don’t want to have to consider the possibility that they could potentially be wrong and have something to learn from a new perspective.

Folks are simply so accustomed to defending their feelings that they are wholly unwilling to acknowledge anything that may prove detrimental to their fragile opinions as they know deep down that those opinions are built on a bunch of lies.

Instead, all we see is this rampant adamancy that everyone is right and has everything figured out and doesn't need to listen to dissenting voices because those who have differing viewpoints are just wrong and mean and trying to shatter this peace that they've found within the lies they hold so dear. So many people just truly do not care to understand. They simply want to be left alone to live their lives according to this assumption that they have nothing left to learn, nothing to reconsider, nothing to possibly change.

And as this foolishness grows more common, our mission of sharing God's truth becomes that much harder. This truth we carry is rather pointed and piercing and understandably offensive to a world that only has ears to hear what they agree with. Scripture tells us many times in many different places in many different ways the same simple fact: We are wrong. We are sinners. We are lost. We are broken. We are hard-headed, hard-hearted, foolhardy, and maybe most concerning of all, we're good with it!

So when we share a Gospel that confronts complacency and calls people to account for their wayward choices and foolish opinions and radically dangerous lifestyles, we're probably not going to find a very warm welcome. We'll likely not find many hearts jumping at the chance to hear about the death that we all deserve. We're largely going to find people who have concreted this idea in their minds that their lives are spotless and free from error and therefore feel as though repentance and salvation and mercy and forgiveness are all unneeded and unnecessary.

The issue lies in the pervasive reality that this verse conveys. People have eyes to see but choose not to do so. They have ears that are well-capable of hearing but they can't allow their hearts to risk it. They have minds that are fully capable of thinking and intelligence and reason and wisdom and yet they've squandered them consuming only that which appeases the lies they find comforting. It's this really weird and incredibly sad paradox in which all of humanity has the ability to understand and yet many simply refuse to try.

And where we run into problems is that we try. We try to get people to understand this Gospel that has saved us and can save them. We try to get the point of Scripture across because we know the truth it holds is the only truth that counts. We try to help people see that we're not judging them or looking down on them or calling them worthless idiots, but that we're simply trying to help them see the dangers that exist in continuing to live apart from God. We just keep trying to love a world that simply doesn't understand love as anything but agreeance.

Thus we find ourselves quickly drawn into arguments and debates and confrontations that are simply unnecessary and unwarranted but apparently unavoidable as humanity just cannot bring themselves to consider a truth that doesn't exist to appease their hollow desires. We get caught up in feeling this need to defend ourselves, defend our faith, defend our beliefs, defend the truth of God's Word so that we retain this hope of breaking through the walls people have built up so that they can finally see the beauty of this gift we've been given in Christ.

But what we have to understand is that simply is not our job. That's one of the big things that we've been discussing this past week. It's not up to us to make anyone else's choice for them. We're just the ones who try to help them see that they have that choice to make. We can explain the saving power of the Gospel, but we can’t commandeer control of their minds and force them to understand the truth found within. But when people refuse to understand this gift we’ve been given, we quickly find ourselves on the defensive trying to fend off their attacks that are unleashed from a broken soul that isn’t too interested in being put back together.

And that’s where we get sucked into a trap that’s been laid to make us look overbearing and unloving. We don't have to defend God's Word. We don't have to defend our beliefs. We don't have to defend the truth because they truth is immutable. What God has spoken will always be what it has always been. And nothing this world does or says or chooses to believe will ever change it.

His authority is not at risk! Our faith is not at risk. Our salvation is not dependent upon our recruitment of a certain number of other people to the salvation which we’ve been offered. God has not given us a quota that we must reach in order to earn our entry into His promise. Everyone's choice to either believe or deny is squarely on them. Again, as Christians, our job is to simply share the truth of the Gospel and trust that God will do with it what He intends to do.

We can't force people to believe. We can't force people to see. We can't force anyone to do anything because we're just servants. We're just messengers. We're just the ones who have found humility through open eyes that have caught a glimpse of His light which has left us unwilling to turn back to the darkness from which He saved us. We are the ones who are here to speak His truth and let Him take it from there.

My point is that it's not our job to change hearts. It's not our job to change lives. It's not our job to offer salvation. Because we are simply unable of doing any of the above. Christ is the only One who can soften hearts and open minds and change lives and save souls and heal the wounds left by a lifetime of poor choices. We just point to Him by sharing the truth of His Gospel and praying that it's heard by ears that are willing to hear so that they can see the power found within this message.

The fact of the matter is that God knows those who are His. He knows who will end up in Heaven. He knows those whose names are written in the Book of Life. We're not here to try and figure out who belongs in those different groups. We're not here to try and change that. We're just here to share the truth with those who can and will be saved by hearing it.

Sadly, many in this place will go to their graves clinging tightly to these lies that tell them only what they want to hear. Many will seek only the further hardening of their hearts. Many will continue to squander their ability to see by simply refusing to try. Many will reject God's truth just because it hurts their feelings. Again, that's their choice and every person's choices are between them and God.

You and I are just the ones He has called to stand in that gap and offer folks the lifeline we've been given while there's still time to grab it. If our efforts fall on deaf ears or hardened hearts or uninterested minds, at least we can say we tried. And that is all we can really do. We can’t open eyes to see the light of Christ or convince people why that light is so much better than the darkness that many are comfortable hiding within. All we can do is offer up the knowledge we’ve found in His Word and pray that it goes where He wants it to go to accomplish what He wants it to accomplish.

It’s not our success that counts but our willingness to try.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold