With a dozen trees in our yard that produce leaves, we spend quite a bit of time in the fall raking those leaves. I have already burned three or four piles of leaves in our burn pile and have another yet to burn.
Recently, during the Thanksgiving holiday, the girls and I went out to rake yet again. But this time, it was really windy. I debated whether to even try it. I did anyway because I really want to get the chore done. But it seemed that for every bunch of leaves I dumped into the trailer, maybe 20% blew back out. It was annoying, to say the least, but I reminded myself that most of the leaves stayed in the trailer. All in all, I think it was a productive couple of hours, despite the wind.
Raking leaves in the wind is somewhat analogous to winning and saving souls. In every society there are headwinds against which Christians have to fight. It is no less so in 21st century America. Soul-winning today is not as easy as it may have been four decades ago. America, overall, seems to be getting more and more less-interested in religion in general, if not Christianity in particular.
Despite the wind blowing in our face, we cannot – we dare not – decide the effort is not worth it at all. We can’t “stay inside” and wait for the winds to die down. Because just like leaves will always fall off the trees, so there will be more and more lost people as time moves on. How can we sit back and watch the population of hell slowly and steadily increase because we were afraid to try?
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Just like raking leaves in the wind, we will lose some. We lose some at the door. They don’t even want to talk. We lose some during the Bible study when they decide that total commitment to Christ is just too much. We lose some after conversion as they decide that the world offers more fun. But if we can keep 80% of those who are baptized, then we have at least saved those.
One more thing – despite the wind, Jewell and Ana raked leaves for two hours without one negative word. They just worked. Are we going to curse the darkness or shine the light? “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people” (Acts 18:9-10).
–Paul Holland
