The Subtle Snare of Soul-Saving
July 1, 1998
One of the greatest snares of modern evangelism is this apotheosis of commercialism manifested in the soul-saving craze. I do not mean God does not save souls, but I do believe the watchword "a passion for souls" is a snare. The watchword of the saint is "a passion for Christ." The estimate of success has come imperceptibly into Christian enterprise, and we say we must go in for winning souls, but we cannot win souls if we cut ourselves off from the source, and the source is belief in Jesus Christ (John 7:37). If we immediately look to the outflow—the results—we are in danger of becoming specialists on certain aspects of truth, of banking on certain things, either terror or emotionalism or sensational presentations—anything rather than remaining confident that "He must reign." If we stand true to Jesus Christ in the midst of the fearful hour, we shall come to see that there is a lie at the heart of the fear which shook us. We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone. After the corn is garnered into the granary, it has to go through processes before it is ready for eating. It is the "broken-bread" aspect which produces the faithfulness that God looks upon as success, not the fact of the harvest, but that the harvest is being turned into nutritious bread.
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