Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Romans 10:1
An organization called Ariel Ministries has as its goals the reaching of Jews with the Gospel and the teaching of Jewish Christians to be good disciples of Jesus Christ. Ariel Ministries is one of several such organizations, and they have been effective in seeing many Jews reached and saved. They have a deep interest in the Jews, because many of them were founded by Jewish believers, often referred to as Messianic Jews. These Messianic Jews often follow many of the traditional practices of Judaism, but only because they are Jews and not because they feel these things are necessary for salvation. They are like the apostle Paul, awakened to the truth of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, and with a burning desire to see other Jews brought to this same awakening.
Are the Jews the only people who need to hear the Gospel? Of course not. Most Christians today are gentiles, not Jews. Most Gospel preaching is directed at the gentiles. And yet, the Jewish, or Messianic Christians put us Gentiles to shame with their devotion to reaching members of their own people with the Gospel. Like Paul, they really care and they really work hard to spread the message. Paul, for example, said he could wish himself under a curse if only his own people would be reached and saved (Romans 9:3). Is it any wonder, then, that the Messianic Jews are having success in spreading the Gospel to their people. We can learn from this.
What is the level of interest among us for the unsaved members of our own families? What outreach have we done to contact and present the Gospel to members of our extended families? Does everybody who we know is related to us know that we are Christians? Do we have a prayer list that has the names of our unsaved siblings, children, parents, cousins, and so on, that we might bear them frequently before the Throne in prayer? Can we say with Paul that it the desire of our heart that our family members are reached and saved?
The greater our efforts to reach our families with the Gospel, the greater will be the desire and burden of our heart before God for them. This desire and burden will lead us to even greater efforts. Maybe then God will move in gracious response and we will see answers to our prayers. -Jim MacIntosh