Less than a month has passed since the Lord placed upon me the privileged task of leading his great Army throughout the world. Because of his perfect timing, this Easter message is my first opportunity to reach out in print to every Salvationist in 111 countries. What better theme could there be than the dying and rising of Jesus? There is no greater theme! It is our constant theme!
Time is short and the need is urgent. People are dying in their sins. They are forfeiting their chance of Heaven. Who will tell them of Calvary? Who will speak to them in loving tones about a Saviour who offers himself in atoning love for their sins?Every Salvationist is called to that sacred mission. God raised up the Army. We did not invent ourselves. We are the product of his divine mind. Someone once said that the Army started as an ‘idea’ in the mind of God. His intention was that we would help to build his holy Kingdom of love and forgiveness here on earth. That intention has not changed. As we mark his death on Good Friday, and as on Easter Day we rejoice because of his resurrection from the dead, let us seek from Heaven a renewed understanding of what it means to be a Christ-centred, Calvary-conscious Army.
All we do is for Jesus. All we say is for Jesus. All we plan is for Jesus. All our buildings, our money, our vehicles, our literature, our uniforms, our musical instruments, our computers – they all belong to Jesus. Everything he has given us, he wants us to use in being a Christ-centred, Calvary-conscious Army. All our hopes, centred in Jesus. All our ambitions, surrendered to Jesus. All our reading, entertainment, leisure, thinking, relationships – all under the control of Jesus.
Then as we honour him, his Cross comes more and more into focus. Its deeper, richer, matchless meaning takes hold of us and will not let us go. We find ourselves clinging to that Cross, for hope of salvation lies nowhere else. Our lives become yielded lives, crucified with him.
