Office of the President
Come Follow Me
“ Would you please call my father ? He is dying and is convinced he has not invested his life well for Christ .” There was pain in this adult daughter ’ s voice . Because I know the family well , I phoned this man for a deathbed conversation , which brought an essential principle into my focus : Don ’ t waste your life . Invest it well for God ’ s purposes and glory !
Our culture is dominated by voices beckoning us to self-advancement and materialism . Our innate tendency is a relentless focus on our needs and desires , worshiping at the altar of I , me , and mine .
Yet , if we listen with discernment , we hear another voice , much gentler and more compassionate , inviting us to “ Follow me .” When we abandon the trinkets of this world and respond to Jesus ’ radical invitation , we discover the infinite treasure of knowing , experiencing , and serving him . Relentless , overflowing joy is found in an uncompromising , unconditional submission to a gracious , loving deliverer who invites us to follow him . This is about investing for eternity !
This issue of OMS Outreach discusses giving our lives away for the only person , the only cause , worthy of abandoning ourselves to follow him ( Matthew 16 ). It is about leaving certainty for uncertainty , low risks for high ones , preserving self to dying to self . For the sake of those far from God , without hope and without the knowledge of a redeemer , we are looking for people willing , in the paraphrased words of Jim Elliot , to “ give what they cannot keep to gain what they cannot lose .” Perhaps you are one of them ?
Only one life , ’ twill soon be past , only what ’ s done for Christ will last . — C . T . Studd
Bob Fetherlin 3