TODAY’S SCRIPTURE Mark 16:15-16
If you are a Christian, who taught you the Gospel and baptized you into Christ? It may have been your parents, a family member, a friend, a teacher or preacher, a boyfriend or girlfriend, or it might have been a complete stranger who unexpectedly knocked upon your door. Whoever that person was, you are indebted to him or her for bringing to you the “implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (James 1:21). Without that individual and the loving, patient, prayerful efforts that person put forth, it is possible that you today would be as Paul describes the Gentiles in Ephesians 2:12, “…separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Without that person, it is possible that you would be lost.
But this is what is interesting. That person, however much you owe for what he or she did for you, and however thankful you might be, does not really matter! Yes, you read that correctly. The person responsible for you having heard the joyful sound of salvation was only a vessel for the truths that Jesus came to proclaim. That person may have been an important part of your life for many different reasons, but he or she not only taught you the Gospel because of love for you, but love for the Savior as well. That individual may have been your BFF or the apple of your eye, but within the mighty power of God, that person was a “jar of clay” in the service of the King (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Can you be made a jar of clay? Having heard the joyful sound, are you ringing out the message of salvation to those around you? Going, teaching, and baptizing have nothing to do with how others might look at you, but instead have everything to do with how you look at others. Their souls are just as valuable as yours, and Jesus died for them just as much as He died for you. Who has heard the joyful sound from you? Who needs to?
Today, I will…be thankful for those who go, teach, and baptize. I will also let the joyful sound of salvation be heard by someone––anyone––everyone who needs it!