Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - "Busy Being Nice"

I recently listened to evangelist Ken Freeman share his heart-wrenching story at an outreach event. Ken described how he endured at least 10 step-fathers growing up, and went through severe abuse of every kind before he was even a teenager. He was contemplating suicide before reaching adolescence, because his life felt so hopeless. After much reflection, Ken landed on one very good question: "Where was the church during all this?" Ken concluded, "They were busy being nice. But they never knocked on my door as far as I can remember."

This blog is not about door-to-door evangelism, but I do believe Ken has raised a very good point...one that should be shouted from the rooftops. Christianity isn't Christianity if it means keeping ourselves at arms length from the people who need us the most. If you are like me, I could easily become comfortable living in a Christian cocoon, going to my Christian church, spending all my time with my Christian friends and family, working for a Christian ministry, and never being intentional to get involved with who Jesus came to look for and rescue.

We all have been given the same itinerary for our lives given by God Himself - follow Jesus and finish the job He started. And that mission is to do whatever it takes to reach the people He died to save. But here is the problem.

We are too caught up in our own lives to even care. I mean, when is the last time you have actually slowed down enough to think about the life of a lost person you know and really pray about how God may want to use you to influence that person? I'm not talking about making that person your spiritual project, but rather allowing God's compassion and concern to bleed through your veins and into your everyday life so that your motivation to start each day is to help bring the lost to heaven with you.

Do you face the same temptation with this as I do...to just write this off and be happy with my safe, nice Christian life?