Monday, May 7, 2012

“Did I do Enough?”

~Erin Blair

The other night I was watching Schindler’s List with my husband (my first time to see it) and it provoked a lot of thoughts in my mind, especially the ending.  For those of you who have not seen the movie, allow me to summarize the part I wish to elaborate on.  At the end, the war is over and the Jews are set free.  As Oskar Schindler is about to leave, he looks around at all the Jews he saved and then looked at things such as his car and his Nazi gold pin, realizing that if he sold his car and pin, he could have saved a few more people.  Over and over he said, “I could have done more. I could have gotten one more person.”  Upon watching that scene, it made me realize that we should have that attitude as Christians. 
We are commanded by Christ in Matthew 28:19- 20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”  Does this commandment have a limit on how many people you can teach? No. But we say, “I’ve done enough.” Or we say, “Let so-and-so do it. That’s not my job.”  What an awful attitude to have! How many does it say? It says “all nations.” This means whenever we come into contact with someone, there is an opportunity to teach them about Christ.

As Oskar Schindler said, “I could have done more,” so we should view our lives.  Jesus taught in His parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30 that we are to expand our talents, to bring more in than was originally there. In the parable, the master gave each of his servants talents according to their ability, and two of them gained more talents than what was given to them.  The third, however, did nothing and was called a “wicked and lazy servant” (v. 26).  Why was he wicked and lazy?  He did not go out and bring in more talents.  We can apply this to converting people also.  God sends us out into the world to bring souls in, and it is commanded of us to get as many as we can.  After all, Jesus said in John 4:35, “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

What happens when a field hand or worker is lazy in harvesting the crop? For those of you who are even a little familiar with agriculture you know that if you wait too long to harvest a crop, the crop goes bad, it rots and is no longer good for anything.  If we are lazy in bringing souls in to Christ, we do not have that agape love for them and are sending them to Satan.  Let’s keep in mind James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.  What is good? Bringing in souls! We should never be satisfied with part-way, we should always strive to do better.

There is a song that is sung in a lot of congregations “You Never Mentioned Him To Me.”  How sad that song is! We need to keep that song in mind as we come into contact with those who are lost because we could be their only chance to learn about God and have a chance at heaven.

Erin is the wife of Jordan Blair who preaches for the New Madrid church of Christ in New Madrid, MO. Erin currently teaches the teen girls class and has helped with church activities like Prom Alternatives, Youth Rallys, Ladies Day events and VBS. She is currently working as a paralegal for a law firm.

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