Do we weep for the lost?

As I was reading my devotion this morning in the Daily Bread. I was reading about a young teenager who wept over the fact a 20 year old homeless man refused Jesus! She wept because she knew if he died without Jesus where he was destined to go!

As I read this the conviction came over me and I asked myself, do I weep for the lost? Is my heart truly burdened for those who do not know Jesus? Has my heart become hardened over the fact that people just don't want to know? Or they are just finding more excuses not to?

I watched a movie called Saving Private Ryan. I wept throughout the movie over the lives lost in that terrible battle on D-Day! But it came to me, even though people die as heroes, do they know Jesus? Was I weeping over the fact they were lost?

We as believers weep over many things. But do we truly weep that people are lost out there and that our responsibility is to reach a lost and dying world for Jesus no matter what? Or have we become hardened in our hearts already making the determination that people have made their choice?

Regardless how the Apostle Paul was treated by his countryman, most wanted him dead! He wept for their souls he never stopped sharing Jesus. He took every opportunity whether on trial, or in prison to share the Gospel. We must never forget when even on the Cross surrounded by an angry crowd, Jesus cried out for their forgiveness!

We should not be spending our time making the determination who or who is not allowed into heaven. We should be weeping for their souls, and no matter what, sharing the Gospel message whether they accept it or not. We are not to argue the cause just plant the seed!

And even if they reject it now, you can be at the very least relieved, that you took the time to give them the Gospel. The rest is up to Jesus Christ who does the saving and changing of lives! But we, if we have hardened our hearts we will miss many opportunities!

The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 9:1-5, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen[a] according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

How about you? Would you be wiling to trade places? Would you be willing to give up what you have in Jesus for at least one soul? That is true love and sacrifice. Even as Stephan was being stoned to death for his relationship with Jesus, he asked God to forgive them Acts 7. Who are we to be any different? Are we truly weeping for the lost?