Soul-winning is a very significant aspect of Christianity. It is for this reason that Jesus did not just come to preach the word but also trained people to continue in His stead. When the Church was born after Jesus’ ascension, the disciples had one instruction – to win and disciple souls from darkness to the kingdom of God.
Soul-winning is about snatching a soul from darkness to the Kingdom of God by virtue of the soul accepting Christ as one’s Lord and personal saviour. From the genesis of soul-winning in the New Testament, it has always been coupled with evangelism. You first have to evangelise to the unbeliever before you can win them. I, for instance, was born into a Christian home. But it took me to consciously accept Jesus as my Lord and personal saviour before I was truly saved. And I didn’t teach myself to accept Him as Lord and Saviour. Someone had to tell me this. For this reason, today, let’s learn three benefits of soul-winning in Christ.
#1 Bring Joy in Heaven
“I say unto you, that like likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
Luke 15:7 (KJV)
Is it not amazing how the whole of heaven can rejoice just because one person was added to God’s children? Wow. We are so privileged to be here on earth at a time where some people are confused, so they pray to the universe, where so many people believe in themselves instead of Yahweh, the creator of the universe. The implication is that if our numbers as believers remain the same, heaven does not rejoice. Why would heaven rejoice when the people constantly wallow in sin? We can only make heaven rejoice by leading souls to Christ.
#2 Depopulate the candidates of hell
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Those who do not know and accept Him are not saved and cannot go to the Father who dwells in heaven. If you miss heaven, you definitely cannot miss hell.
It is, therefore, our responsibility, as believers, to make sure such people do not go to hell. How do we do this? By winning them over to Christ. Although, to the perishing, the message of the cross is foolishness (see 1 Corinthians 1:8), it is up to us believers who know how unpleasant hell is to help them get saved by Jesus from it. Soul winning will help reduce the number of people who have indirectly signed up for hell.
#3 Bringing people back to God’s original plan for their lives
Originally, God created man to abide in His presence. Sin drew us away from Him. We are not meant to be away from Him. In Luke 19:10, we see that it is for this reason that God sent His Son – Jesus, to come and die for us. Anyone who is not connected with God is lost. We, all like sheep, went astray. We turned to our own way (Isaiah 53:6) and were lost. It is such people that the Son of Man came to save.
As believers, it is our job to also help in restoring God’s original plan for all our lives. Salvation repositions us to God’s order. Unbelievers are not in order. They follow the deceptive ways of the world. They need to be taught the truth so that their lives will also be repositioned in Christ. That is centrally a significant benefit of soul-winning in Christ.
As a believer, you have been called to the harvest. The labourers are few, but the harvest is plentiful. Soul winning will benefit you because you will be making heaven rejoice. It will benefit the soul won because you would save the soul from suffering hell, and it will benefit mankind because you would be helping in restoring God’s original plan for man. Stay blessed and bless others through soul-winning.
