Jun 23, 2017
by Clinton R. Brown
Executive Director
Our SDB leaders in the Cameroon have been working tirelessly over the last few years to bring the Gospel to the needy in their rural communities with medicine, food stuffs, clothing, shoes, and the Word of God. Though the material help is greatly appreciated, it is taking time for the message of salvation to penetrate the hearts of even the most desperate in the villages. The seeming lack of change among the people has apparently led to a little bit of discouragement.
One of the leaders lamented to me that he felt many of the people there are just so uncivilized. So much so that the Gospel just was not able to gain a foothold in their backward hearts and minds. I understood his perspective, but was mildly amused at his assumption. I had done some genealogy research on my own family tree and subsequently missions and historical research on the Viking ancestors that I had come across. I remarked to him that my own family tree had roots that marauded and pillaged for their livelihood. My northern lands forefathers had been renowned as blood-thirsty savages and unscrupulous killers with no respect for the ways of God’s Kingdom. These uncivilized people, however, were conquered by the love of Christ. They took back Christian slaves and wives with their other plunder who carried within them the Gospel message. Eventually, this message converted those northern nations for a time to some of the most Christ-centered cultures in Europe.
The idea that our God came with the power of salvation for only one people or another is not reflected in the Scriptures and diminishes the vision of what our objective should be and who our God is. The prophet Isaiah gave some insight to the bigger plans of God when he wrote to the Jewish people about the coming Messiah: [the LORD] says: “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6) Just as the disciples were instructed to go into all the world, so we see that the Old Testament prophet had been enlightened to Jesus’ global objective.
Over and over throughout the Bible, God proclaims His desire for “the knowledge of His glory to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). That is everywhere, giving opportunity for all in every nation if they would only reach for Him. This includes you, me, a street worker in Germany, a gun-runner in South Sudan, a Malaysian child smuggler, and even that person in your life that it just seems the message of God’s love was not meant to be received. Maybe they hurt you or maybe they are just so profane or annoying that you could
not imagine God wanting them. However, on the righteous scale from God’s perspective, all of our righteousness without Him is like soiled rags.
All of us need Christ, and none of us are outside God’s mission to be reached. Our job is not to evaluate the merit of any people or person in regard to who should receive the love of God. We are commanded to carry His love to all people and persons. One day we can stand together and know we were part of the reason we are with peoples of every tribe, nation, and tongue giving praise to our God. I look forward to that day!
Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! — Psalm 117
