Perhaps you’ve noticed: A celebrity contracts XYZ disease, or loses a loved one to it, and here comes the pitch for battling it. “Let’s conquer XYZ in our lifetimes so that no one else has suffer!” You can even see it in the daily obituaries, where survivors of the less-than-famous request, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations to XYZ research.
 
The good Lord knows there are all kinds of horrible diseases to take us out. I’ve personally lost family and friends to everything from heart disease to breast, colorectal, kidney and ovarian cancer, from MS and lupus to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. You probably have, too. So which of these killers should we fight with all our hearts, souls, minds and, most importantly, money?
 
Here’s the problem. Even if we were to succeed in wiping out all these diseases, its victims would ultimately die of something else – because it’s death that’s our enemy, not the means of death. In fact, sooner or later, we are all going to die of something, leaving these earthly bodies behind to spend eternity in heaven or hell. What sense does it make to pour our time and money into fighting earth’s inevitable end, while virtually ignoring the reality of eternity?
 
Fortunately, there’s a solution: experiencing death as the doorway to everlasting joy in heaven. We need simply repent of what God says is sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to have paid our sin penalty on the cross. (Not that it’s easy; as Jesus is quoted as saying in Luke 9:23, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” But it is simple.)
 
You say you don’t believe this? You hold to some other scenario, such as “we cease to exist upon death” or “everyone goes to heaven except for Hitler” or “no one can possibly know what happens after death”?
 
But what if you’re wrong? Considering that we’re talking about eternity, don’t you think it might conceivably be worth investigating the subject as ardently as you plan your next week-long vacation? I beg you to do so before it’s too late; the Lord has promised that you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart (see, e.g., Jeremiah 29:13).  
 
If you’re already a born-again believer, great! I look forward to seeing you here, There or in the air. In the meantime, how about reserving your charitable contributions for efforts that are making a difference for all eternity? 

Since I became a born-again Christian in 2000, I've thought incessantly about how to reach the lost – especially the young. I’ve finally come to the conclusion that there are two approaches that might have opened my eyes many moons ago.
 
SELECT THE RIGHT SOURCE
 
First, I might have been greatly impressed had someone I admired taken the time to discuss topics such as these with me:

• Absolute truth. We all know it’s just plain wrong to murder, steal, and lie. No matter what the naysayers may tell you, absolute truth does prevail in every realm -- physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. Do not listen to those who tell you it doesn't.
• Can’t see it? So what? Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it does not exist. Consider love, hate, joy, depression, oxygen, helium, gravity, and wind. We may see the effects of each, but not the thing itself. So when someone tells you that God doesn't exist because we can’t see Him, don't you believe it.
• There is a Creator. And there’s a stunning amount of readily available evidence to prove it.
• The Bible is true. Ditto on the evidence front, starting with science and prophecy.
• This life will end. Your loved ones will die someday. So will you. Here's how you can make sure you'll all be spending eternity together in eternal joy.

It would’ve been nice if these things had been taught in the Sunday school my parents dragged me to every week, until I escaped to boarding school. Although maybe they were addressed; I usually spent those classes daydreaming about more interesting subjects, like horses or boys. But there were some older kids and adults I thought the world of, and probably would have listened to – even if the subject had been God.
 
So that's one possibility: Reach out to the lost one-on-one, via Christians whom they admire. 
 
TEACH THE CONTROVERSY
 
A professor at a nearby Lutheran school routinely promotes teaching students both sides of any worldview issue. His reasoning: even those well-instructed in Christian truth will one day walk out into a big wide world that mocks this truth, substituting clever lies disguised as the real deal. It’s up to the Christian community to help young people understand those lies within the context of truth, to prevent their faith from being shaken.  
 
For instance, don't simply teach young people that the Grand Canyon was carved out by the Genesis Flood. Do so of course, but also:

• Explore the world’s old-earth explanations with them, pinpointing where each one falls into absurdity.
• Help them to consider how even a mighty little river could possibly have carved out this vast canyon, and weigh that explanation against the likelihood that it was formed quickly by a cataclysmic hydraulic event.
• Show them photos of the Canyon’s curved rock layers and ask how those layers could possibly have been caused by slow erosion and deposition; then show them how easily the Flood explains such formations.  
• Ditto on the subject of fossils, so often advanced by evolutionists as proof of their God-free old-earth theories.  

 
And that’s just one narrow slice of the discipline-wide science supporting the biblical worldview. I'll bet the same approach could be taken with virtually any subject of interest to a particular young student. For instance, a budding historian might be interested in comparing biblical accounts to what the world says about the evolution of languages. Or perhaps he or she would like to explore the root causes of Nazi Germany, and what secularists say on that score vs. what the Bible suggests.
 
THE BOTTOM LINE
 
So there you are – two possible ways to help the vulnerable young grow up to be solid Christians, well-prepared to help their own children follow suit. If you have further suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Click here to email me.