Wherever you go....

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." -- Revelation 7:9-10

I was born and raised in the United States. I have lived all my life in the United States. I have never even traveled outside the United States...until last week. Why should I go on such a trip? Because of the above verses. As of today, every tongue, tribe and nation can not lift their voices and cry out to God, because they do not have a relationship with God.

I went to a foreign land in order to seek ways that we can partner to reach other nations, tongues and tribes with the saving message of Jesus Christ. I went looking for how I could bring God to others, but I came back having encountered God in a new way for me.

I experienced the utter helplessness of being in a place where my native tongue was useless. I consider myself to be a polite person. I render common courtesies at every chance I can. This is not boasting, but to let you know how helpless I felt. As we were preparing for the last flight of our journey, we could hear the flight instructions in a language that we did not understand. The lady sitting next to me on the flight showed me the button on the arm rest to make sure I knew how to "return the seat back to its upright position". I couldn't even understand that simple statement. She was kind and smiled at me, but we could not communicate. I said, "Thank you," but I don't think she understood. The language barrier was, at that moment, insurmountable. I felt like such a cad. I couldn't even communicate gratitude. It was awful.

But oftentimes, we who know Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior speak in languages that are just as hard for the unbelieving world to understand. We use terms like sin and salvation, but we don't define them. We use terms like repentance and belief, but we don't describe what those things look like in life. We may as well be speaking in a foreign language because the lost in this world can not comprehend such language. But the sad part is that we don't fell bad about mis communicating at this level. We just assume people understood and rejected the message. I'm not so sure that is an accurate assumption. Let's make the Gospel good news again by explaining that sin is rebellion against God which leads to death. Let's let everyone know that salvation is the loving act of God forgiving us for our rebellion and rescuing us from eternal death. Let's explain that repentance is making the commitment before God not to continue in rebellion against Him. Let's make sure that belief means more than just acknowledging existence, but carries with it the knowledge of God's greatness and perfectness as well.

In short, let's tell a perishing world that Jesus loves them and wants them to know Him personally. If we took that mandate seriously, we would work to bridge the barrier of language.