There are 7.2 billion people in the world today, and 2 billion have never heard the life-saving message of the gospel. When numbers reach into the billions, they seem to lose meaning; they are simply too big.


However, if we shrink the world's population down to a village of 100 people, perhaps we can start to make sense of the dire needs that crush the global population, and more importantly we can be moved to pray for people who, without Christ, have little hope, peace, joy, or opportunity for salvation.


Picture the world as a village of 100 people.  Six people (all U.S citizens) own 58% of the wealth.  74 people own 39% of the wealth.  20 people own the other 2%. If you have a bank account (with any amount) you are among the richest 30 people.  18 people struggle to live on $1 USD per day.  53 people struggle to live on $2 USD per day.  20 people are undernourished, 15 are overweight, and one dies of starvation.  20 people have no clean drinking water. 56 people have no access to sanitation, and 80 live in substandard housing.  One person has AIDS, and one has a university degree.  Seven people have computers, and 67 are illiterate.  48 people cannot speak freely of their religious faith.


Even when the numbers are shrunk to understandable figures, the global issues and problems can seem insurmountable.  But when we feel as if there is nothing we can do to help the world, we need to remember that Christ was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, sacrificed his own body and


blood for every person, and rose victorious over sin, death, and hell. It is this very same Jesus who said in John 14:12, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father."


What great works and service can we do when all seems too vast and complex? We can PRAY for a world that desperately needs Christ and his salvation, remembering that the Christ who conquered death takes our prayers to the Master of the Universe.


