Are You Crushed?

Are you and I really crushed and overcome with grief and anguish at the fate of the lost? The quick and easy answer is yes, but I think we need to look further into this question before we give an answer. We need to look deeper into what it means to ache for the lost. The apostle Paul ached for his lost brothers, the Israelites. Listen and you can almost here the anguish in his voice. I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit-- that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:1-5

Paul had great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart for his lost brothers. He even makes the bold statement that he would even dare to wish that he himself were cut off from Christ for the sake of the Jews being saved. They are God’s elect people, to whom adoption, glory, the promises of God, the Law, the temple service, and even the patriarchs belonged. Yet they were lost and outside of the mercy of God. Even the messiah, who Paul said is God himself in the flesh, was born into the world through them. Paul knew the blessing of God, and he knew the curse that was upon those who were not born again. And he dared to make the statement that he would trade his own salvation that they might be saved. That is a heart for the lost. That is the heart of God as well. God laid down his own life that the lost might be saved. Is your heart cry for the lost so powerful that you would contemplate giving up your own self for them? Would you wish that you were cut off from Christ so that others might be saved? That is crushed for the lost, and it is where God wants us.

Father of Mercy,
I come to you and humbly confess that I am not broken for the lost the way you want me to be. So I ask you today to break my heart, that I might be willing to lay down everything to seek and save the lost by bringing the Gospel of Christ to them.