Let Them Go

“If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” (1Co 16:22 AV)

The term ‘Anathema Maranatha’ means accursed forever.  What Paul has said is that any man who does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let hem be accursed forever.  Let his suffer the torments of hell forever.  On the face of it, this may appear as a curse.  Like a wizard who casts a spell on someone with whom they are at odds.  But the fact of the matter is, Paul cannot curse anyone.  He does not have the power to proclaim a soul as eternally lost by his own word.  He does not have the power to damn a soul to hell.  What his is saying is that the word ‘let’ is to allow for the reality that this soul is eternally cursed and that we should resign in our hearts the reality of it. The Greek word means to let it exist; let it happen; or let it be the case.   In other words, this statement is a resignation of the heart that those who have rejected the LORD will suffer eternal damnation.

One of the hardest things to do is to resign to the fact that someone whom we love very deeply is lost forever.  It is also very difficult to resign to the fact that someone who has rejected Christ will never repent.  We strive so hard for the souls of men, but we must resign to the fact that most will not love the LORD Jesus Christ.  I am reminded of this quite often.  I am reminded of the terrible reality that the vast majority of people upon whom my eyes gaze are lost and will never come to a place of repentance.  This should not change the heart’s calling to reach the lost.  It is commanded of the LORD to preach to the lost.  This difference is our own sanity.  The difference is our love for the LORD compared against our love for the lost.

Living in a large city of over 1.5 million people, I rarely see the same person twice.  A trip to Walmart brings with it a whole new subset of people.  Outside of those who work there, all others are complete and total strangers.  Every now and again, I am overwhelmed at the total loss of humanity.  The vast majority of the tens of thousands of people I encounter every day will die without Christ.  The task that lies before us can become maddening.  That is, unless we remember the verse above.  We can only do what we can do.   The LORD builds His church. We sow and water.  God gives the increase.  What we have to resign to is that with all our efforts, the greater majority will not care.  This can sadden us.  But it cannot cripple us.  This can cast a heart of concern and broken-heartedness.  But it cannot cease our labors.  We must resign to the truth of the damnation of humanity yet seek the few that will repent.  Otherwise, we become useless for the glory of God.