All throughout the Bible there are warnings of God’s wrath. Those who are outside of God’s good grace are implored to turn to him before it is everlastingly too late. Those who have accepted the salvation that God so freely offers through his crucified and resurrected son Jesus are urged to save those who are lost.

Jude 22-23 is one of the many Scriptures that deal with the importance of evangelism. There we read, “Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”

Perhaps we do not pay enough attention to the urgency of the situation regarding the lost condition of people around us. Maybe we get so caught up in our daily activities that we don’t give evangelism the top priority that it receives in the Scriptures. After all, Jesus says that he came to seek and to save the lost. He went to the cross to pay for the sins of all mankind. Jesus plainly tells us—and shows us—the priority he places on saving lost souls. How could we claim to follow him and not share his passion for the lost? He says that if we follow him, he will make us fishers of men. Our concern for the lost should be on our minds every day and should be regularly displayed in our words and actions.

With that in mind, I would like to share a poem by an unknown author, entitled “Are All the Children In?”

I think of times as the night draws nigh

Of an old house on the hill,

Of a yard all wide and blossom-starred

Where the children played at will.

And when deep night at last came down,

Hushing the merry din,

Mother would look all around and ask,

“Are all the children in?”

‘Tis many and many a year since then,

And the old house on the hill

No longer echoes childish feet

And the yard is still, so still.

But I see it all as the shadows creep,

And tho’ many the years have been

Since then, I can hear my mother ask,

“Are all the children in?”

I wonder if, when those shadows fall

On the last short earthly day,

When we say good-bye to the world outside,

All tired of our childish play,

When we meet the Lover of boys and girls

Who died to save them from sin,

Will we hear Him ask as Mother did,

“Are all the children in?”