The Problem With An Emergency Jesus

Why are we so caught up with our own struggles and problems as Christians instead of urgently reaching the lost? 

Oxygen Mask EvangelismIf you think of it like we are all on a plane: We are struggling to breathe, not capable of coping with the altitude of life without a source of oxygen. We begin to panic with life’s struggles and the consequences of our sin and guilt, so we reach up and take a couple of emergency breaths of oxygen (Jesus).

The oxygen sustains us a bit so we relax again because the urgent crisis is over. But, we are called to first grab the oxygen mask and secure it and to keep it secured for the duration of the flight. As soon as ours is secured, we are told to then look around for children and other people who need help fitting their masks.

We go from struggle to a brief emergency revival, from struggle to brief emergency revival. Sure, most of us might survive the flight (a few wait too long and don’t survive), but most of us grab on to Jesus when we need him. But because we are either in survival or emergency revival mode, we are no good to anyone else. We have no time for evangelism because we are too busy with our own survival and revivalism! In fact, we don’t even notice that everyone around us is gasping for air because we are inward focused, busy surviving and reviving ourselves.

So what is the answer to this problem? Read “Why Discipline has Become a Dirty Word”.