I was at a restaurant with my family celebrating a birthday a few days ago. I was looking around at all the people there, whose conversations seemed to be on frivolous things.

The gospel is something that is always on my mind. Jesus is always on my mind. And as I sat there looking around at everyone I couldn’t help but think how irrational it is that as Christians we aren’t more urgent in sharing the truth of Christ with others.

If we really believe what we believe—that we are all on our way to death, and after that we either face our Savior who receives us with love, or we face eternal wrath as the just punishment we deserve for us our—then shouldn’t we be warning everyone as often as we come across people?

I don’t think we take the gravity of this reality serious enough. Eternity is a long time. And yes, we take comfort in God’s sovereignty in election. But I think that doctrine can hinder our urgency in sharing the good news of Christ. God works through us, His people. He has told us to go and tell others of their need for Him. We are too fixed on what is before us, as though life on this earth is what is eternal.

Now don’t get me wrong when I say that. I am a strong 2K believer, but I also firmly believe we need to be engaged in the societal sphere here to do what we can to keep goodness, truth, and beauty flourishing in this world. I am not suggesting we remove ourselves from engaging in cultural issues by any means. Those who know me know well that cultural issues are important to me. This is our home while we are here, and we need to steward it well.

But what I am saying is that we have become cowards. Modernity is partly to blame for that; modernity has propelled people toward cowardess, and we have lost the virtue of courage perhaps more than any other virtue. And this has rubbed off on the church.

I could go into how that has been played out in a variety of ways in the church regarding numerous scriptural topics, but here I am addressing the most vital aspect of scripture which is the good news of Jesus Christ.

Charles Spurgeon said, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees [imploring them to stay]. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”

This is the fervor I am speaking of, that we no longer possess. If we really believed every soul and body is either going to hell or into the presence of God for eternity, why aren’t we warning everyone? Why are we holding back out of fear for what they might think of us?

Thomas Sowell rightly said, “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” It is the loving thing to speak the truth. What we lack is love. And courage.

…And gratitude for the gospel. It is this that we truly lack, and must meditate more on. The gospel is the most beautiful, most remarkable reality that we are living in. For those of us in Christ, we were once dead in our sins but are now forgiven and have been made alive in Christ! When we really think about this, which we should be doing every single day, then we can’t help but live in gratitude to God for saving our souls.

We were on our way to hell—that eternal agony separated from our Creator where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth forever—and by no merit of our own God chose to send His Son to die for us in our place, that we can be forgiven and reconciled to Him, and have the promise of eternal life with our God and King.

What else is there to live for? This is reality. This is history. This is the truth that everyone needs lest they perish in their sins.

This should make any biblical commandment and instruction so easy for us to abide by. He is a good good God who loves us so deeply and all that He instructs to us is for our good and our joy and our benefit. How can we doubt His love, when we look at the cross? How can we dishonor His Kingship? How can we not trust Him?

How can we not tell as many as we can about our precious Savior?