Thursday, 1/28/21 – The Challenge of Evangelism

The Challenge of Evangelism

35 years ago today, Jan. 28, 1986, we all watched in horror as NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded mid-flight killing all seven crew members. Rubber O-rings installed between the fuel segments had never been tested in extreme cold. It had been uncommonly cold the night before the launch, ice had formed, the rubber O-rings had stiffened, and the fuel seal had become compromised. A NASA article on the disaster reports, “As the shuttle ascended, one of the seals on a booster rocket opened enough to allow a plume of exhaust to leak out. Hot gases bathed the hull of the cold external tank full of liquid oxygen and hydrogen until the tank ruptured.”

Aerodynamic forces tore the shuttle apart some 14.5 km above the earth, but crew compartment continued to an altitude of 19.8 km before plummeting into the Atlantic.*

When incidents like this occur critics ask, “Why do we even have a space program?” “It’s too dangerous,” they say…”Too costly!” But such is the natural curiosity of man. Something within us looks up, desires to ascend, to find context, completeness, perhaps even to comprehend, to find the answers to “Who am I?” “Why am I here?”

Believer, do you know you hold the answer to these difficult question the whole of hungering humanity so obsessively seeks? It is not an answer among plausible options, not an unsure thing. It the the key, the primary and only truth. This fact amazed Paul, and you should let it amaze you:

“God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Cor. 4:6-7).

This treasure is Christ! The gospel, “…the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Christ is THE Answer. As He Himself has simply said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). 

“There are a dozen views about everything,” writes Lewis, “until you know the answer. Then there’s never more than one.” – C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength © 1945

1 plus 1 = 2. Once you know that, no other answer will do. Christ is all humanity’s answer. He brings  context, completeness, even comprehension to “Who am I?” and “Why am I here?” No other answer will do.

Believer, you know this answer, and it is the answer everyone seeks. Share it today!

Press on…

Are you interested in being discipled one-on-one in the fundamentals of life in Christ? Or, would you like to begin this journey by turning from your current path and committing your path to Christ? — Use the Contact page and we’ll get you started.

* NASA Remembers Challenger = Link HERE

In memory of those killed in the disaster: Challenger commander Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Judy Resnik, Ronald McNair and Ellison Onizuka, payload specialist Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe, who hoped to become the first teacher in space.