Every day we are going to come into contact with someone whether we know them or not. Several months ago a group of friends, my wife, and I were in New York City. It was my first visit to this enormous city among millions of people.
We were able to stay a couple of blocks away from Times Square and visit there in the daytime and at nighttime. There were all types of individuals to be seen. As all of us noticed those around us and we talked about the people we were passing by on the street. I could only wonder in my mind as I looked at the faces of these people, do they know Jesus and have Him in their hearts?
In 1983 two Christian writers in Nashville, Phil McHugh and Greg Nelson, were working to write a song. As they went to lunch one day they observed the waitress that waited on them and noticed that she was very pleasant and smiling but her eyes were empty. They realized that she was someone that needed to hear about the saving grace of Jesus. Once they recognized this about her they started looking over the restaurant and noticed the same emptiness in the faces of people all around them. This is when they went back to their office and on that afternoon wrote the song, “People need the Lord.” Steve Greene recorded the song in 1984 after he realized he had been living a fake and phony life. Green, whose parents were missionaries, had been doing the right things but with the wrong motives. This is when he was in desperate need of a Savior and ran to Jesus for what He alone could provide.
Read the verses of this song and I believe that you will realize and understand who we are seeing every day and not witnessing to in the way we should be.
“Every day they pass me by, I can see it in their eyes. Empty people filled with care, headed who knows where. On they go through private pain, living fear to fear. Laughter hides their silent cries, only Jesus hears.” The chorus goes, “People need the Lord, People need the Lord; at the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door. People need the Lord, People need the Lord. People need the Lord, when will we realize, People need the Lord.”
The second verse goes, “We are called to take His light to a world where wrong seems right; what could be too great a cost for sharing life with one who’s lost; through His love our hearts can feel all the grief they bear; they must hear the words of life, only we can share.”
We that know Jesus need to understand that we may be the only Bible and gospel that someone may see or hear. It bothered me that I never witnessed to any of those people in New York City and I walked past them not saying a word. I was afraid of getting ridiculed because of the way the world has turned and as the second verse says “where wrong seems right.”
Christians need to stand up for Jesus and share the gospel with everyone. Jesus was the only perfect person to walk this earth and He was crucified for sinners such as you and me. He didn’t back up from anyone about knowing God and the perfect peace that we can have when we go to eternal life with Him. What have we to fear when Jesus wants us to be a witness for Him?
Prayer: Thank you Jesus for your saving grace. Thank you for eternal life that you have promised us if we accept you as our Lord and Savior. Amen.
