Run !

To be certain that the prodigal son would be received on his return home, the father ran ! He ran ! I, too, have wanted to run since the Holy Spirit placed this evidence on my soul, "it is the last hour". Global airlines have found me a good customer. One of Paul's favorite Greek words was Spoude, which means "stretch your neck forward like a man running to cross the finish line." It was rendered "to be diligent, to study, to be earnest, to hasten, to be zealous, to be forward." Many churches are very active, but what to do ? Losing your time with the world's biggest topics today is a way of making a big impression by looking very busy and "on the page". But bringing the gospel to a dying world is the mark of true relevance. The world must be adapted to the gospel or it will perish.

Granting all our thoughts to our personal spirituality as the fires of hell break out is like looking at firefighters shaving before answering a fire call. We can spend years "defending our principles" when in fact we are just justifying our church quarrels and our assumptions. Only the order of evangelization counts; snatch men from the midst of the flames.

This divine order was not given during a mood movement of the Lord. God himself is animated by the danger threatening human beings without Christ. Calvary was imperative. "I have other sheep, which are not of this enclosure; these too, I must bring them ; they will listen to my voice and there will be one flock, one shepherd" (John 10:16). On the way to Emmaus, Jesus explains to his disciples that Christ must suffer (Luke 24:26). The same Greek word "dei" is used in these two passages. This word does not mean that it is appropriate, suitable that it suffers, but rather that it had to do it, while it pushed him there. The God who went to the end of the cross, did not do it to provide us with a hobby or a subject of interest to occupy our leisure. Our Lord is not dead to assure a small occupation to some religious people. He commands us to proclaim the gospel to all creation. This task requires the union of our forces.

Jérémie Sourdril