It is well known that much of the world?s population resides in India. India is the the second most populated country in the whole world, behind China. I knew that going into this trip. Upon arriving in India, I was overwhelmed with the vast amount of people. I never would have imagined that so many people could live in such a concentrated area. As the rest of the team and I left the airport, we quickly realized how congested Delhi is. The streets are crowded, the sides of the streets are crowded, and the areas surrounding the streets are crowded; people are everywhere.
Delhi is so congested that there are no yards whatsoever. Houses and buildings form one seemingly continuous unit. The whole landscape for miles on end is crowded with buildings upon buildings upon buildings upon more and more and more buildings as far as the eye can see into the dense smog. On the first night we explored the roof of our flat, which offered a great yet saddening view of the reality among us. These people in India have very little space to live which is something we as Americans take for granted. The population density of Delhi is 11,050 people per square mile which is one of the greatest in the world. The truly sad reality is not the fact that the city is extremely congested, but that the city is congested with darkness. As I looked out a mile in every direction surrounding me there are thousands upon thousands of people who are lost; of the millions of people in Delhi, only about 1% are Christian. Most of these people?the vast majority?have never once heard the gospel, and most of them never will hear the gospel. This harsh reality has opened my eyes to the great need of missions.
God has given me a better understanding for the truth found in Luke 10:2: the harvest is plentiful. This truth is continually becoming more evident to me with every day spent in India. My experience at the Hindu temple in Ujjain showed me just how lost some people are. It was terrible to see people pushing their way through the crowd in order to bow down over idols and worship fake God?s. I noticed a young girl chanting a prayer at an idol as people around her paid money to enter the room. I noticed a cart full of trash and old flowers that were offered to the idols. It was very strange to notice the system of worship these people had which seemed much more of a money making scheme than anything else. The lies that these people believe and the deception they are under represents Satan?s extreme stronghold in this area.
Their longing for something more, something to fill the God-size hole in their hearts was so evident. The hopelessness in the people?s faces really made that apparent. These people unknowingly long for Jesus?s saving grace in their lives. They deeply desire to worship something that will truly bring hope and fulfill their heart. Recognizing this truth in a new way has increased my conviction to share the gospel with these hopelessly lost and extremely unreached people. Knowing this, Jesus?s command for Christians to labor for the harvest is becoming more of a desire of mine than ever before. God is reminding me daily that the team and I are here for a reason: to love on the people of India, to share the full true gospel with them, to grow together as a team in unity, and to know God more? All of which ultimately exist to bring glory to God.?
It is God?s will for a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language to be saved, which is found in Revelation 7:9. Our will should be the same as God?s will.? Our team realizes that we should strive to serve God by living in accordance with his will. We do not do good works to obtain salvation, but we do good works in light of our salvation. Evangelizing the lost and doing God?s will should be something that we love to do not because we have to, but because we have the opportunity to do so as children of God. After all, what farmer in his right mind turns down the opportunity to work an abundant harvest.
