¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, Those who are strong and well have no need of a physician, but those who are weak and sick; I came not to call the righteous ones to repentance, but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).                                                  Mark 2:17

This is quickly becoming a life verse for me. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy spending time with Christians, in fact my best friends are all Christians. However, I want to have a lot more friends that don’t live for God.

We’re here for one reason: to reach the world for Jesus. How are we going to do that if we’re not befriending and loving on people who don’t know God?

Here are Some Statistics that should shock you, and ideally inspire you to action:

Within 2 Years of Being a Christian, Statistically, Christians will Have 0 Non-Christian Friends in their Lives

There are 5 Types of Unchurched People in the World -4/5 Said they Will go To Church if Someone Invites Them

21% of Christians Will Invite Someone to Church in their Lifetime

2% of that 21% Actually Invite Non-Christians to Church in their Lifetime

What does this mean? Churches are growing at the expense of other churches. We’re taking Christians from one church and bringing them to our church. We’re only reaching 2% of the lost! Does anyone else see something wrong with this?

While we spend all of our times trying to encourage and lift other believers (this is a good thing, but we need a balance), there are billions of people who are desperate for a relationship with God. People desperate for hope. People looking for purpose. People who go to bed and know there has to be something more to life. People who we can point to Jesus.

The Concept is Simple: Hang out with People who don’t know God, love on them, and point them to Jesus. If that’s too hard for you, at least you can do is invite them to church!

If we don’t, who will?

³⁴And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].                                            -Mark 8:34

I know we talk a lot about God giving us the desires of our hearts, God having an amazing plan for our lives, and Him causing us to live abundant lives, all of which are true. However, I think in pursuing those things, we often miss out on the avenue God intends us to take to get those things.

When we give our hearts to God, we no longer own our lives, He owns them. It’s not up to us to choose what we want to do and pursue, it’s up for us to discover those things which God has planned for us.

Jesus said in Mark 8:35 that, “Whoever wants to save his life, will lose it, and whoever gives up his life for His sake and the gospel’s will save it.”

Every morning we wake up, we have 2 choices: Deny, forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of ourselves and our desires in order to pursue what He would have us pursue or live for ourselves and what we want and think we need.

We all need to be willing to do anything, live anywhere, give everything away, in a moment’s notice for His sake. The real abundant life is living everyday in His presence, doing what He says to do, regardless of the cost.

Everyday we need to say to ourselves, just like John the Baptist did, “HE MUST Increase, and I must decrease.”

Ask God to open up your eyes to things that you’re holding onto that are holding you back from following Him with every fiber in your being. When he reveals them to you, let go and pursue Him with everything you got – you’ll find abundant life in the pursuit.