Russell A. Cardwell Online

Several times I’ve seen a sign in front of a church saying, “I will make you fishers of men. You catch ‘em; I’ll clean ‘em.” A recent song by Chris Rice says, “there’s a world out there that we’ve left behind, full of souls as important as yours and mine.” Are we screening candidates for salvation?

This paraphrase of the gospel illustrates that candidates for salvation don’t need to be good Christians to begin with. What kind of people are we reaching out to in order to promote the message of Christ?

How do you measure the value of an individual’s soul?

Is your soul more important because you are prosperous and blessed with wealth? Or is your soul more important because you are poor and untainted by greed?

Is your soul more important because you are physically attractive and blessed with good looks and charm? Or is your soul more important you are not physically attractive and are uncorrupted by vanity?

Is your soul more important because you’re smarter, or because you’re simpler?

Is your soul more important because you’re life is filled with activity, or because your life is filled with quiet and contemplation?

Is your soul more important because you’re older, or younger?

What are the criteria by which we judge potential candidates for salvation? Are we looking for people who really need God in their lives? Are we looking for people in need of transformation and sanctification? Or are we looking for people who are already living good wholesome lives to begin with? Are we just looking for a few more luke-warm Christians to fill the pews?

To paraphrase another old slogan from the Vietnam era, “Let’s save ‘em all. Let God sort ‘em out.”

Am I prescreening candidates for salvation, or am I willing to let God make the choice?

• Theme of the Year
• Kingdom Builders Wanted
• Ask, Knock
• God’s Time
• The Most Important Part