Yesterday I wrote of being ill-equipped to persuade a young man to accept Christ and the hope that He offers. Unfortunately, just a few hours after I spoke with him he committed suicide.
A good friend who happens to be a Senator no less wrote and admonished me stating:
To consider yourself ill equipped is not only being unfair to yourself, it at least borders on saying God failed to equip you and we both know that isn’t true!
Now I realize my friend was trying to convince me that I did the best I could and not to feel guilty about it, but in my mind my buddy did make a basic error in his assessment. First God is certainly not to blame for me, (or anyone) to be ill-equipped to speak to others concerning any matter.
Consider this passage in 2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and encourage with every form of patient instruction. For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with
itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their
own desires . . .
Or this one in 1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
My contention is that God has provided all of the necessary resources to equip His church, but it is up to those of us in the church to utilize them. You might have an entire bookshelf full of Bibles of every translation and never open them and you won’t be prepared for much of anything. That doesn’t mean God didn’t equip you to perfection; it means that you didn’t equip yourself with what was available.
There is power in the Gospel and I’m persuaded that it can convince anyone of the truth. When I say I was ill-equipped I was sincere. I said everything I knew to say to convince this young man that there was hope in Jesus Christ. I am tortured by knowing that the Bible contained exactly what that young man needed to hear and I was not able to make it available to him.
Yes, he had a free will and was free to accept or reject God, and I pray that he did accept him and is in heaven at this very moment. I would prefer he was at home with his mom and dad and would have lived a wonderful life.
I suppose the bottom line with me is that I need more Bible study and I’m praying to God to give me more of His wisdom. Thanks for all of the encouraging letters. Yesterday was a tough day.
Col.2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
Have a great weekend and go to Honey Lake Church, (or somewhere), this Sunday.
September 30 2016 – Click here to listen