November 10, 2022

James 5: 20 (NIV)

Remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Do heroes know when they are heroic? Rarely.*

I have never saved another person’s life but I am sure that it is an exhilarating experience. Those who do it on a daily basis – firefighters, EMTs, medical professionals – truly are heroes. But behind each one of these lifesavers we find support personnel without whom they could not perform their valiant deeds. File clerks, dispatchers, janitors, mechanics – all provide an invaluable contribution back-stage.

Never won anyone to the Lord? Never turned a sinner from the error of his ways? Are you sure about that? If you are a parent of adults who are faithfully serving the Lord, you are a successful soul-winner. If you have ever prayed for someone until she finally gave her life to the Lord, you have made an invaluable contribution to the salvation of that soul. Do you have some “little” task that you perform at your church, enabling your preacher to concentrate on his job? Have you ever encouraged someone who was out there in the trenches with the lost souls? Do you regularly provide financial support to a missionary family?

According to Paul in I Corinthians, chapter 3, we are only servants through whom others come to believe. God has assigned to each of us our tasks, he says. Paul uses himself and his friend Apollos as an example of the teamwork required to fulfill our mission. Paul says he planted, Apollos watered, but God made the garden grow. We may not all do the same job but we have the same purpose.

Whether we perform our soul-saving in public or behind the scenes, “we are God’s fellow workers” (I Corinthians 3: 9), and we are instrumental in turning sinners from the error of their ways. 

When the church pulls together in God’s intended direction, great things are accomplished.*