The Passion for Souls

My mom sent me a copy of a powerful, stirring e-mail that contained an excerpt from a book by Oswald J. Smith called The Passion for Souls. I had never heard of Oswald Smith or his book, but the words he wrote echoed inside of me. The whole excerpt would be pretty long to copy here, but these words in particular challenged me:

'Years ago, I went through the Bible to see if I could stay in Canada and still obey God. Would it be possible, I asked myself, for me to enjoy a comfortable pastorate; never cross the boundaries of my country and still carry out my Lord's commands? Would God be satisfied? And as I studied the Bible, I found such expressions as these: "All nations, all the world, every creature, every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; the uttermost part of the earth." In other words, the Gospel, I discovered, was to be given to the entire world. Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, must hear it.

'When I saw that...[I realized that] if one nation lives beyond the boundaries of Canada, then I am in duty bound to leave my country, cross the boundaries and go to that nation. And if I cannot, then I must find substitutes and send them as my representatives. And if I do neither, I will be a missing Christian in the day of rewards.

'My friend, what about you? You know that the Gospel must be given to all nations, to all the world, to every kindred and tongue and people, to the uttermost part of the earth. What are you doing about it? What are you going to do? Either you must go yourself or else you must send someone in your place, and woe to you, if you do nothing.'

I pray that we will not be a people who do nothing.

--If you would like to be able to read the entire article by Oswald Smith, please leave me a note in the comments section and I will e-mail it to you. Every word of it is worth great thought!--