Proverbs 24:11,12

I was reading my daily Proverb chapter today and there it was again, the reminder that we are called to be lifeguards on a rescue mission against the forces of death.

"Deliver those who are being taken away to death. And those who are staggering to slaughter, O hold them back. If you say, 'See, we did not know this,' Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul?And will He not render to man according to his work?" Proverbs 24:11,12

These verses caused me to physically place myself between unborn children and the paid assassin at abortion clinics in the late 1990's. I remember the night, after preaching at a pro-life rally, when a lady came up to me and put a baby girl in my arms. She thanked me for sitting at the door of the abortion clinic and preventing her from killing her unborn daughter. A life snatched from the jaws of death.

These verses have come to mind when I hear Death Metal. The lyrics of these songs are gruesome, vulgar and wicked. They become pipers of destruction to young people suffering the pain of broken homes, uncertain futures and a schizophrenic culture.

If the Gospel is anything it is a call to life. "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:1-7

My teenage son's friend just attempted suicide and shot himself through the temple. He survived but will now be blind. This week a friend at church asked my wife and me to pray for a young lady who just attempted suicide for the second time. It just impressed me again that we are not just winning people "to Christ" but the gospel is literally rescuing them from death.

Here is what Jesus said, "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly. John 10:10

It's raining outside and kind of a gloomy morning. I hope this wasn't too heavy. It just jumped out there to awaken me again to the significance of God's plan for man and what we are up to.

Just Thinking.