To win as many as possible. (1 Cor. 9:19)
Expanded Passage: 1 Corinthians 9:19
To me, one of the most dramatic and impactful scenes from any movie comes near the end of Schindler’s List. After risking his life and spending his fortune to save as many Jews as possible, Oskar Schindler reflects on what more he could have done. He says he wasted money that could have been used to save more lives. His car, why did he keep his car? That would have been ten more lives saved. If he hadn’t bought his Nazi party lapel pin, that would have been one more. He drops to his knees, weeping. He saved 1,100 lives, but wept over the one that was lost.
I see Jesus in that scene, weeping over the one that was lost. I also see a challenge to us as Christians. Are we weeping over the lost ones? How much are we willing to do to save just one more? We want to be free to do the things we enjoy. But Paul called us to be a slave to the gospel for everyone else’s sake. In the previous verses of chapter 9, Paul wrote about laying down one’s rights for the sake of the gospel. What thing in your life have you been unwilling to let go of for the sake of the gospel? And if you are unwilling to set it aside for the gospel to reach one more, aren’t you really a slave to it?
Consider what you can do to save one more.
Aaron Wilkinson is the vice president of operations and enrollment at Wesley Seminary, a member of College Wesleyan Church (IN), and an employee resilience researcher.
© 2023 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.