Why did you wait so long?

A missionary went by canoe to visit a primitive tribe along a river, deep in the jungle. They shared gifts and played games with the people of the village. Finally, the tribal chief asked this missionary a question.

“You didn’t travel from your far country to my village just to bring gifts and play games. Why did you come?”

The Christian missionary answered by sharing John 3:16 with the primitive tribe, and the message of God’s love. He concluded by saying, "We are here to share this story of God's love with you."

Immediately, one of the tribal elders asked, “Why has no one ever come and shared this story with us before. I am an old man. Most of my life is gone, and I never knew that there was a God who loves us. I have spent most of my life trying to appease the gods because I felt like our gods were against us. Why did you wait so long to bring us this message?"

Why, indeed! Especially when we realize that the message of the Bible is God’s love for His creation, man. God’s love sent His Son, Jesus, to the cross to redeem us from our sins, and to restore our relationship with Him.

This primitive tribal elder couldn’t read or write. He had never seen an electric light. His village had no running water. Yet he had a hungry heart that was open to the One True God, because Ecclesiastes 3 says, “God put eternity in the human heart.”

Blessings,

Willie Jordan