Brothers and sisters in Christ, I would like to share a little bit with you of what God has been placing on my heart this summer.  This began back with the senior high mission trip to Indianapolis early in the summer.  During one of the evening services that week, we were asked to write down or draw on a large wall mural something we have wasted.  Some drew money, some drew pictures of hands or gifts, but by far most people drew a clock (in some form or another) to symbolize wasted time.  As I stood there looking at the mural, I too realized that my biggest waste was time.  However, for me, God was striking a deeper chord in my life than he had before.  In my waste of time, I was wasting souls.

There is a strange portion of scripture in Ezekiel 22 which describes a city that is overflowing with evil practices and wickedness.  God is looking around the city for one person to "stand in the gap" (v.30), to fight for good, to fight for right and to fight for God.  But He finds none.

Jesus tells Zacchaeus in Luke 19 that he has come "to seek and to save what was lost."  Jesus came to earth because his first priority, his number one goal was to save the lost.  His first priority wasn't to make us "good" people who act nice, go to church and give money to the poor.  Yes, all those are encouraged by Jesus and the scriptures, but not the first priority.  His first priority was to bring us to Him.  His first priority was to provide a way for us, through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, to be with him eternally forever!

So in my wasted time, I see wasted suls.  I see time spent on things that could have been spent on loving others for Christ.  It is a difficult balance between rest, relaxation, and taking things easy with the tension of being purposeful and driven to seeing people connect with Jesus.  As summer comes to a close and fall programs begin to ramp us, I need to remember that we do all this to save souls.

May the first priority of Jesus to save suld be ours as well.

Learn more about St. John's Christian Church online: www.stjohnsarchbold.org