In this country at this time there is a generation that has not been taught the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. To the contrary they are being taught either nothing of the Lord or that He was a nice guy and that He may even be fiction. Looking into the eyes of young men and women between the ages of eleven and fourteen, I saw lost children of God without hope. There were some searching with no clue of what they were seeking. There were some that had fear, a fear of searching for fear of what they would find. There were some that were hungry, no starving, for just a hint of something beyond the noise of confusion and the silence of loss and darkness. In the midst of these were a few that someone has reached out to and told that we have a savior who believed. How do we reach the others?

That was not the first eyes seen that were searching without knowing what they were seeking. At one time I played music in bars and from the platform saw similar eyes. When I left the platform to speak to the ears and listen to the mouths, the stories were filled with broken hearts of those that could not understand this world. Too many of the people knew that they were lost and knew the story of our Lord, but had never seen the love that we are to have for one another. Their hearts had been broken by lust and greed; sometimes their own and sometime that of another. Those people are the parents and grandparents of the young that now live without the knowledge of grace. Our young have been taught, by words or by actions, that Jesus is fiction. Our children are being taught by those saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since our fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation?” (2 Peter 3:4). Where is the witness of grace?

Too many times I have heard from the pulpit, “We hear too much of love, love, love but are not taught enough to fear the wrath.” Have they not read, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Or the words of our Lord, “These things I command you, that you love one another” (John 15:17). Or of Paul, “Concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). There is another commandment that accompanies the command to love. “This is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment” (1 John 3:23). “Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’” (John 6:29). What can we do? “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14).

Are we waiting for the wrath of God to teach our young? Do we think that we need to teach, those that we have never shown love, how to fear? Do they not fear already? They know about fear. They live in it every day! Do I need to teach them that dwell in hell on earth about hell? Do I need to teach those that live in fear about fear? We need to be taught about the One that came to deliver us out of hell. Shall we teach them to overcome fear by turning to a new fear? Have we truly been given a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind to teach fear? Does fear produce a sound mind?

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed, but feared? How can they believe in Him whom they have not been taught? Indeed, the fear of the Lord may be the beginning of wisdom, but we do not stop there. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:8). Perfect love casts out fear (see 1 John 4:18).

Yesterday, I looked into the eyes of children that have not known love. But they know fear and wrath. “We have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). God is our dwelling place. Can we fear the place that we dwell? Yesterday, I looked into the eyes of children that fear the place they live. We have known and believed the love that God has for us. It is time that we abide in the love of God.

We cannot dwell in God isolated from the lost children of God. I cannot dwell in God and look into the lost eyes of our young without calling on Him. God does not dwell in me and see the eyes that I saw yesterday and turn and walk away. God did not look into the eyes of the lost and walk away. God stood before the religious leaders and the political leaders and took our shame and our punishment. God climbed upon a cross and took our curse. God said, “Love one another!” He also said “Go!” Go love one another. Go and serve the least of these our brethren.

© 2006, 2017 Tim D. Coulter Sr.