One night on the missions trip (I took a couple weeks ago), God moved me in a way I’ve never been moved before. As I was praying with my Christian brothers and sisters, a wave of grief hit me that I can’t adequately describe.
You see, during the prayers I’d been lifting up a friend who KNEW Christianity was true. He knew it, however (in his words thru text), he just wanted to “flush it down the toilet.” At the same time he admitted he knew the Gospel was the truth.
While I was praying for this young man, the words “I never knew you, depart from me” (Matthew 7:23) entered my head and refused to leave. For the first time this verse hit me. Words do not do justice to the pain and the sorrow I felt during that night. Supreme emptiness.
If my friend died now, he would go to Hell. As Christians, we don’t like thinking about it. We like thinking about OUR eternity, but others?
After the prayers ended, my brothers and sisters went to the dining room to eat and fellowship. I could not; I felt terrible. I went to our sleeping area and kept crying.
I cried out to God, “People are going to Hell. Do you know that? Do you care? Do you love (the man I was praying for)? Can you hear me? WHERE ARE YOU?!?!”
I could not reconcile Hell with the fact that people God created and loved will spend eternity there. How can this be?
“Depart from me,” Jesus will say. People will be looking into those sad eyes; they will collapse in tears and despair. There will be no joy or peace where they go. No hope. No life.
As I was by myself, the words “depart from me” would not leave. I felt an ache I’d never felt before. An emptiness, a hopelessness.
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