Let's finish the job!

This song by Will­iam P. Mer­rill, 1911, has been on my mind a lot lately. It was even a little annoying it went on so long.

"Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings."

and verse 4:
"Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!"

Then Sunday the special speaker's wife prayed for me to, "rise up." I'm not sure how to apply that yet, but I think I'm supposed to rise up in some way. (The word "man" in the song is sometimes sung as "church")

Anyway the second line. "Have done with lesser things" was also on my mind. I sometimes wonder if we Christians, especially here in America, have lost our way-- or as my Aussie friends might say "lost the plot." I know there are things to be concerned about here in this country, but I wonder if they could be considered "lesser things"? I am including myself in this. It's easy to get caught up in various controversies and concerns and forget the most important things.

Jesus gave us a job to do. It's called "the Great Commission." You know, "go into all the world and preach the gospel..." In case you aren't aware, we haven't finished it yet! Of the approximately 7000 languages in use around the world.* There are still about 1800 languages where Wycliffe believes there is a need to make God’s Word available, but work has not yet begun. This represents between 165 and 180 million people without any access to God’s Word in a language they understand. Revelation 7:9 says there will be a great multitude "from every nation, tribe, people and language" around the throne worshiping Jesus. But that can't happen until they hear the message. I know not everyone can go. And maybe you can't afford to give more than you already are. But you can pray. Jesus said to pray that laborers would be sent into the harvest field. That's something we can all do. We don't need to brave the jungles of anywhere. We can even do it from the comfort of our favorite recliner. It might help to turn off the tv, though.

I found this great video about how our prayers can make a difference. Check it out. https://www.wycliffe.org/prayer 

While you're there, you can also read some current prayer needs and sign up to pray for a Bibleless people group. I just did. It's simple just give them your name and email address and they will send you info about a Bibleless people group who need your prayers.

As my husband likes to say, "Let's finish the job so we can all go home!"

*wycliffe.net/statistics, October 2015