“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.”

I love his heart for the lost. Here we see that the knowledge of the reality of hell is so real it creates such a burden in Spurgeons heart that he says, “Over my dead body!” If people I know and love are going to go to hell, it will be over my dead body. I will do all in my power to prevent people from going to hell! I will spend hours in the prayer closet, I will preach with my words, actions and tears! I will fast, I will sacrifice, I will do anything! I would rather die trying to save these people than allowing people them to simply drift into the pit of misery. Or as William Booth said,

“If I thought I could win one more soul to the Lord by walking on my head and playing the tambourine with my toes, I’d learn how!”

But heres the thing, Jesus Christ did say “over my dead body.” He was nailed upon the cross and died for our sins.  And Hallelujah, He rose again three days later! He now offers all people hope and salvation, if only they would turn to Him and be saved. Lets join in with the greats of the Christian faith and say “Over my dead body!”

Jesus, thank you that you died and rose again to save us! It is becasue you put your body on the line that we can be saved. Now, I devote my life to putting my body on the line so that others may come to know your love and salvation!

Today I did some remembering of the poor as I prepared for a talk Sarah and I had to give today. I spent a number of years growing up in Bangladesh, one of the poorest countries in the world. This had a significant impact upon me and has obviously informed my world view. As I looked at some photos a flood of memories came running back to me. You may not see it at first, but there is a young boy lieing in the rubbish in the picture to the left. This horrible poverty was a part of my every day life.

God has reminded me that it doesn’t matter how much we are preaching, who we are preaching to, or how effective we are, we must take heed to the apostels words to “remember the poor.” Preaching the gospel is important, but if we are to live trully sancitified lives, we cannot forget the poor. The same motivation for preaching is the same motivation for helping the poor. Its love. So, like Paul, we must continue to preach the gospel to whoever we can, but we must never forget the poor. We must preach the gospel and help the poor.

Lord, thankyou that you remember the poor. Please forgive me for not remembering the poor as you would have me do. I choose from now on to remember the poor and preach the gospel, both motivated by your love. Amen