It’s a life-and-death matter!

April 4, 2007

By Jerry Scott

Whenever I sense someone is hyping a situation, I start looking for the door.

Politicians do it, claiming if they are not elected the nation will perish in the next electoral cycle. It never does.

Salesmen do it. “Buy this car right now. I’ve got someone coming in to see it later today, and they are ready to buy!” To which we ought to say, “Yeah, right!”

Even preachers do it, urging the faithful to give and serve sacrificially, or else. There are all kinds of ways to finish that sentence with hype.

We’re so accustomed to this kind of language we take little that is said to us at face value.

So perhaps you have already discounted my claim to be writing about a life-and-death matter.

But how you conduct yourself today is a life-and-death matter.

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? … Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (2 Corinthians 2:15,16; 3:4-6, NIV).

As we interact with people, we are spreading the fragrance of God’s presence. To some, we are a stench that reminds them of death and doom; to others, we are the sweet smell of spring and new life! What a responsibility. It is a life-and-death matter.

The Word reminds us we need not be overwhelmed, for it is God in us who does the work. We cannot change anyone’s eternal destiny. But God, the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, spills over and allows us to serve up the water of life in a dry and thirsty land. What a privilege.

That’s what I mean about a “life-and-death matter.”

Represent your King well, won’t you? Prepare your mind and heart for this work by taking a few moments to soak up the Water of Life. Then let it flow from you to those who need to be loved in God’s Name.

Jerry D. Scott is senior pastor of Washington (N.J.) Assembly of God.