The Magnitude of It All

by Jeremy Brown

According to the article, "Religion: why faith is becoming more and more popular" by Harriet Sherwood, there are more than 2.382 billion professing Christians worldwide, or about 31.1 percent of the world's population. There are more than 30,000 Christian organizations/denominations around the world. Christianity is the largest religion in the world. What if I told you that, despite these astronomical numbers, only a minute number of Christians observe the same Sabbath day as Jesus Christ, as well as the same holy days Jesus commanded us to observe (John 14:21). Just think about how big of a deal this knowledge is: Out of 7.8 billion people around the world and 2.382 billion professing Christians, you are one of the few observing God's commanded holy days. Are you excited yet?!

I was in church services one Sabbath, and I heard a scripture that blew my mind. It was Ephesians 2:1-10. It pretty much states that God bestowed mercy upon us by choosing to reveal His truth to us. Think about that! The God of this universe chose you over scholars and others to have the true knowledge of His Word (1 Corinthians 1:27-29). Now that this has sunken in, we must remember this is not for our glory but the glorification of God. We should not revel in the fact that He chose us, but we should ask, "What am I supposed to do with this knowledge?!" God tells us we are called to minister to the nonbelievers and those who are lost (1 Peter 2:1-12).

So, we were not given this knowledge to keep it to ourselves. If we have been blessed with the true understanding of God's Word, we are commanded to spread it around the world. Sometimes the magnitude of the blessing that has been bestowed upon us starts to fade when we see the things that our world praises and/or how small our local congregation may be compared to the magnitude of the task at hand. However, we must not lose heart, for we know who our Creator is. (Nehemiah 9:6). Therefore we ought to let the truth of Ephesians 2:1-10 rejuvenate our love for the Word of God. God has a plan that is working out just the way He wants it to (Isaiah 55:9).

Having the knowledge of God's Word is a merciful blessing within itself! Don't ever forget that!