In any age, and under all conditions, men and women of God have serious responsibilities. In sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth, we have a job to do. Perhaps you don’t think of yourself that way—as a man of God. But if you take his name upon you—if you are a Christian or a Jew—you are his man, his woman, and you are where you are for his purpose. Jesus, in his first recorded sermon, told his listeners:

You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost its savor, how shall it be salted? it is thereafter good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under a bushel, but on a lamp stand; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

I don’t know if you’ve thought about it, but this is a serious responsibility he has laid upon us. We’re not just here for ourselves. We’re not just going through this exercise for ourselves. We’re going through it for him and for the light we shine toward other people. I would think that our age is far from the most challenging that men of God have ever faced, but it may be more pivotal than we might think. I think we are standing on the cusp of history—a knife edge between two worlds. What, then, must we do?