“Anyone Saved Lately?”

Christianity is not merely a conception but a contagion. And when the contagion is lost, the possibility is that the conception may also be lost.

An American pastor, an old friend of mine, says: “Christianity is catching, and if people are not catching it from us, then perhaps it’s because we do not have a sufficiently virulent case of it.” Once when he was in England, we visited Westminster Abbey. He looked around and asked in loud tones: “Has anyone been saved here lately?” I said I was not sure, to which he replied: “If a church is not evangelistic, then it is not evangelical.” He was right, but that didn’t stop me from getting him outside as quickly as possible!

“Nothing is really ours,” said C. S. Lewis, “until we share it.” The moment someone else shares our experience of Christ, then the faith means something more to us. The Amplified Bible translates Philippians 1:5 thus: “I thank my God for your fellowship—your sympathetic cooperation and contributions and partnership—in advancing the good news, the Gospel, from the first day you heard it until now.” From the very first day they stepped into the kingdom of God, they began to contribute to it—to spread it. It was not something they learned; it was instinctive. It was as natural as a baby’s cry at birth. Sharing Christ with others is not something we can take or leave; it is something which, if we don’t take, we can easily lose. For the expression of the faith is the essence of the faith.

Further Study

Mk 5:15-20; Ac 1:8; 2Tim 1:8

What did Jesus tell the man to do?

What was Paul’s admonition to Timothy?