A pastor told this story of when he lived in another city, he became acquainted with an organization called the Wycliffe Bible Translators. In fact, he had a man speak to his church. He would never forget the impression he had made on him.
The speaker had a Ph.D. in linguistics. He was an incredibly well-educated and gifted man. He could have taught in any university in the country. He could have had a comfortable life. But what did he do instead? He spent 25 years with an obscure tribe that didn’t even have a written language.
He first had to learn to speak their language. Then he developed a way to put it into writing. He created an alphabet and grammar for it. Then he taught the people how to read their own language. And then he translated the New Testament into that language. And he did all that just so that they could learn about Jesus. Some would say, “What a waste!”
Another pastor told of a young man who grew up just down the block from his wife. He never met him; He couldn’t even remember his name. But he knew about him. He thinks about him every time he is in the neighborhood.
This boy didn’t attract much notice as he was growing up. He studied mostly. He went to college and then applied to medical school. He was accepted. He completed his training to be a doctor and did a residency in surgery. And then what? He moved to some third-world country no one has ever heard of, and he’s been there ever since, treating people who can never pay him and will never quite understand what he went through to be there with them all just to tell some of them about Jesus. Some would say, “What a waste!”
During a church service a young man announced that he had surrendered to the call to preach. After the service a wealthy and influential businessman spoke to the young man, “You are a brilliant student. You could become a doctor or a lawyer and make a lot of money. Why do you want to waste your life being a preacher?” The young man said, “Sir, my only regret is that I only have but one life to waste for Christ, for sir, I wish I had a thousand lives to waste for Jesus Christ!” That young man was Adrian Rogers, who would pastor Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis and touch the world through his powerful preaching.
How much of your life have you “wasted” for Jesus? Matthew 16:24-26: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Mark 10:29-31: “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first.”
To “waste” this life for Christ is to gain a satisfying, meaningful and purposeful life for eternity. Will you do something wasteful for Christ today?
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