By All Means

By All Means

I have many friends on Facebook, and I get a lot of friend requests from overseas. Those are the ones that I have to use a lot of discernment on or get a word from the Lord about whether or not to accept. Aside from the fact that I’m within about 50 of the Facebook friend limit, there are other pitfalls.
Friend requests from overseas tend to fall into 3 categories; they just want to be a friend, they may be a potential ministry partner (someone that we can equip from our outreaches that we have to offer), finally, those who are looking for funding for their ministry. I don’t mind people asking. Afterall, our ministry is built on the giving of God’s people. However, I can’t help them. We’ve pretty well given all that we have and all that we are to the ministry that we have, and it’s underfunded.
The problem is that knowing where we are, I feel for them and wish that we could help. It hurts me to say, no. However, once in a while, one comes along that makes saying, no, a little easier. This one popped up and said something like’ ‘We’ve been friends a long time and you’ve never given me anything. That got my attention. So, I proceeded with my explanation that we also have a missions outreach, and I doesn’t leave me much to give away. I gave him links to our website and to a site that links to many of our outreach sites and Internet radio stations. He came back in a few minutes and informed me that this wasn’t missions work. I knew what he was talking about. In the past there have been unwilling to go to the field by airplane because Paul went by boat. I was temped to ask the young man if it nullified the conversions of thousands that have come to Christ through our ministry over the last 30 years.
Well, he was unyielding. So, words were exchanged and communication ceased. It got me thinking though, are we more excited about the conversions of the lost, or the process that we went through to see it happen? And is that process limited to the technology that existed in Paul’s day? I think that we all know that the answer to that is, no.
It also got me thinking about 1 Cor. 9:22. “to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” There are many potential applications of that passage, but basically it means that we meet people where they are to reach them, by all means. And if they’re on the radio, we can meet them there. If they’re on the computer or their cell phone surfing the Internet, we can meet them there. As a matter of a fact, we’ve reached people in places where our critical brother could not have gone. And I’d rather reach them by our means than to become the watchman that saw their fate coming, but failed to warn them because I couldn’t get to them by traditional means. We used our means, all the means at our disposal.
Please pray for these men and women who, like us, are trying to reach the world with less than is necessary. Pray that God will supply all their needs according to all His riches in glory in Christ, Jesus. And please remember to pray for us all, that we’ll reach them by all means that are available to us.

Thank you.
Mike