I had the sad responsibility to inform a mom and dad nearly 20 years ago that their beautiful 5-year old daughter had leukemia. They were shocked and overwhelmed.<\/p>\n
I sat on a hospital bed by their side a few weeks later as an oncologist explained that their insurance would not pay for most of the very expensive treatment their daughter needed.<\/p>\n
The father looked at his little daughter, his wife and the oncologist, then said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter. We\u2019ll sell whatever we have. Just do whatever it takes to save her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Change to a different venue last year. I spoke to a group of pastors and deacons about the possibility of their churches adopting an unreached, unengaged people group in India or Indonesia. I shared with them how our church had adopted an unreached, unengaged people group in Manipur in northeast India. We had visited them several times to provide encouragement, Bible teaching and children\u2019s activities, and we currently are sending two of their young men to Bible school.<\/p>\n
A great deal of excitement and enthusiasm filled the room as those men asked questions and explored possibilities. You could see the light in their eyes.<\/p>\n
Then one businessman stood up and asked, \u201cHow much does it cost to fly over there and how long does it take to get there?\u201d<\/p>\n
When I explained the cost and travel time, the room grew quiet as everyone digested that information. Then the businessman said matter-of-factly, \u201cWe can\u2019t do that.\u201d Others started to nod. It was like a cold, wet blanket had been thrown on their enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
Then I responded, \u201cThis is why there are unreached, unengaged people groups. It\u2019s hard to get there and it costs a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
They pondered this a moment; then the businessman said again, \u201cBut we can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, an 80-year old pastor in the back of the room stood up and said, \u201cMy brothers, if we don\u2019t go there and take them the Gospel, they will die without Jesus and go to a Christless eternity like they have done for generations. We have to do whatever it takes to get the Gospel to them.\u201d Then he sat down.<\/p>\n
The pastors and deacons looked at each other, nodded their heads in approval and the excitement returned to the room. They began to discuss possibilities again.<\/p>\n
This father would do whatever it took to save the life of his precious daughter who, by the way, is now in her 20s and teaching school. You and I must be willing to do whatever it takes to reach the precious people in faraway places with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
Aren\u2019t we glad that our heavenly Father didn\u2019t hesitate to do whatever it took to purchase our redemption from a slave market of sin in a faraway, unreached place. What did it take? It took the life of His only Son. He gave His most precious possession.<\/p>\n
What are we willing to give in time, money and abilities to reach untold millions of spiritually lost people in difficult to reach places? The Great Commission challenges us to do whatever it takes.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
Robert Jackson is a family practice physician in Spartanburg, South Carolina<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had the sad responsibility to inform a mom and dad nearly 20 years ago that their beautiful 5-year old daughter had leukemia. They were shocked and overwhelmed. I sat on a hospital bed by their side a few weeks later as an oncologist explained that their insurance would not pay for most of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5250,5251,305,226,5249],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}