Well … are you?

A few weeks ago, on my way home from a Sunday evening Bible study, I turned the radio on in the car and was captivated by a special news report.

The story was about a unique non-profit organization that assists soldiers who are battle weary from their time in Iraq and Afghanistan to re-assimilate into life in the States by taking them fly fishing, and slowly bringing them back to a different time and place. It’s a phenomenal organization I’d like to learn more about.

But what really captivated me was a 23-year-old medic telling the story of how, in the intensity of one battle, he came upon a terminally wounded 18-year-old American soldier who, when seeing the medic, looked up at him and asked, “Are you going to do anything?” and then died.

The first thing that impacted me was the 18-year-old dying for his country. Eighteen years old! I don’t know anything about this young man. Maybe he went into the Army because he came from a patriotic family; maybe it was to earn a college education after a hitch in the military; or maybe he was getting into trouble and needed to shape up. I have no idea. But I do know at eighteen you’re not that far into life, and I would imagine going into the Army was his first … and last … great adventure after getting out of high school. But there would be no more adventures.

The medic said every night the words of that young soldier haunt him. I can understand that. Imagine what he must have felt when a dying 18-year-old looks him in the eye and asks him if he is going to do anything!

I couldn’t help but catch the parallel, though.

As human beings, we are in the midst of a spiritual battle that will not end until Christ returns. All around us are those who are terminally wounded by sin. The question, then, falls to us: “Are YOU going to do anything?”

We’re supposed to! You know the words, that Great Commission that Jesus gave His followers before departing this world: “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you …” (Mt. 28:19-20a, NLT).

Those are marching orders. We’re to minister to those dying in their sin around us by leading them to the One — the only One — who can give them life, give it abundantly, and give it everlasting.

So the question falls to each one of us: “Are you going to do something?”

Well … are you?

Scotty