If you are involved in ministry, whether personally on your free time, or professionally, you are doing the most important work in the world.
That is not an exaggeration.
Many times after our ministry in Mongolia separated from Eagle TV and became AMONG Mongolia I had been called by representatives from Eagle TV asking to use our ministry airtime for breaking news reports. Most of the time I said yes for the sake of maintaining a good relationship with the TV station, even though most of those early incidents did not offer us anything in return. Later, I denied them the use of airtime because I didn’t think the news they wanted to report was important enough to interrupt our ministry broadcast. One time, in particular, I denied them the time and they took it anyway. The relationship had been damaged.
Why did Eagle TV want to use our airtime? It’s really very simple. There are times when a breaking news event is important enough that our time had to be interrupted. Imagine if a terrorist attack hit Ulaanbaatar. For the safety of the public it would be necessary for Eagle TV to take our time. Lives could be at stake.
However, at the same time, everyday when our ministry programs aired, lives were also at stake. Literally. Every. Single. Day. How can I say this? It’s very simple. People who watched our programs were in the process of making a decision to follow Christ. They were making decisions about their eternal destinies, whether they will spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven, or suffer in Hell for all of eternity without him. The goal of our ministry was to try and save every person we could from the eternal terror and horror of what awaits the sinner in Hell. What could be more important than that?
The view of the unsaved man is very simplistic. For the unbeliever it is the temporary things of life that really matter. They are correct in one sense that the temporary things of life are important up to a point. But when you consider the eternal scope of things you begin to realize that what truly matters is that which we do for eternity. Did you know that the Bible says that someday the life that we have lived on the Earth will be forgotten and that for the rest of our trillions times trillions times trillions of never ending years that we will never think about the life we had on Earth ever again? Look at what the scripture says: “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17).
This is a sobering truth. It teaches us that what we do for eternity is what truly matters. I’ve looked back upon different periods of my life and wondered, often ashamedly, why I did certain things that at the moment seemed to matter, but upon more careful examination were really a waste of time compared to eternity.
My friends, what you do in your personal or professional ministry will matter for eternity. The people who are touched by you may be moved to make decisions to know Christ, to serve Christ, and even to bring others to Christ. Thus, your work is the most important in the world. There is no higher call than to serve Christ in the manner of bringing others to him and making them his disciples. In eternity we will forget who was president or prime minister. Barak Obama, Thomas Jefferson, and Ghengis Khan won’t come to mind—ever. Our focus will be on Jesus and on one another—those who have come with us to Heaven. So why waste our time on things that don’t matter?
You may be ridiculed for your focus on the eternal. But do not take such criticisms to heart. Let them bounce off your breastplate of righteousness. There is no more important message than that of Jesus’ life, work, death, and resurrection. You are, therefore, vitally important to God’s plan. And what you do in this regard will last for eternity. “God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints” (Hebrews 6:10).
