Evangelists Everywhere for Such a Time as This

Daily Devotional – Friday, January 14, 2022

Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

 Esther 4:14 (NKJV)

A public university issued a memo urging all lecturers to find time to integrate life skills in their teaching and to offer parental guidance to the learners. This directive came after an increase in premarital pregnancies, drug abuse and suicide and other social ills among students.

The university was asserting that tutors had a moral responsibility to address the non-academic needs of their learners. Instructors were to be real shepherds who did not nurture sheep just to earn a salary.

Evangelists Everywhere

God had placed the lecturers in their current positions for other reasons apart from teaching. In the same way, if Gospel work is to succeed, people not employed directly in ministry must consider themselves evangelists wherever they are.

Scripture has several examples of God placing His servants in secular environments and using them to carry out His work.

For Such a Time as This

When Esther, a Jewish woman, married King Ahasuerus of Persia, she may have thought it was a normal matrimony. However, when the Jews were under threat of persecution, Mordecai, Esther’s uncle, cautioned her saying:

Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? (Esther 4:13-14)

When Civil Servants Evangelized

Nehemiah, while working as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes I, realized that God had not placed him in the prestigious position for the sake of it. Nehemiah used his position to obtain favour and resources to coordinate rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem.

Similarly, Daniel was high-ranking civil servant in Babylon. He served under kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus. Through Daniel, these kings encountered Jehovah, whom they acknowledged as the true God.  

A Young Captive Evangelist

In Second Kings 5:1-19, a young Israelite maid told Naaman, commander of the armies of the king of Syria, to go to Prophet Elisha in Israel to get healing from leprosy. She was an evangelist in her place of work.

These individuals could have kept quiet and not evangelized. Esther was a queen; Nehemiah and Daniel were public servants. From a material point of view, they had nothing to lose. However, they knew God had a purpose for them in their secular jobs.

The Laborers are Few

In these last days, Christ’s words are truer than ever. “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38).

Today, Jesus sends you to evangelize wherever He has placed you. You do not have to be a trained church minister to tell others about Jesus. If you are a teacher, your classroom is your pulpit. Be an Esther, Nehemiah, Daniel and the young Israelite maid, wherever you live and work.

Father, always remind me that I am an evangelist in my neighborhood, place of work and wherever I go.