Quotables

"The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good."

I saw this quote the other day on the Lifehacker blog and I thought, that is true in sooo many areas of our lives! Lifehacker was, of course, speaking to all the perfectionists out there in relationship to their careers. But this quote can be applied in many other areas of our lives as well. The one I want to talk about today is Evangelism.

First of all, I want to point out that above all, I am writing this post to myself. I am terrible at evangelism. I get shy and nervous and stutter and basically end up making myself look ridiculous every time I attempt it. And I know very well how that reflects my heart. One of my biggest stumbling blocks in evangelism comes from looking for opportunities to witness to someone.

Honestly, I would LOVE it if someone just came up to me and said, "Hey, you're a Christian, right? Can you tell me what you believe please?" But that has only happened to me once and is probably not likely to happen again. More often than not we need to take advantages of situations and conversations as they come up. And, as 1st Peter 3:15 says, we need to"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have," when these moments happen.

But too often we wait for that 'perfect' opportunity until we share our faith. Too often we let 'good' opportunities pass us by thinking, "That was okay, but not great. I'll wait for a better opportunity." And then before we know it days, weeks, months, even YEARS have gone by while we have been faithfully cultivating relationships with unbelievers but never actually presenting the gospel.

I am not at all advocating shoving the gospel down a person's throat every time you see that person. I absolutely believe that we should look for good opportunities to share. But I also believe that we should not wait for the perfect opportunities.

"The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good"

God will not be mocked!

In 2 Chronicles 32:1-22 there is an interesting story. Hezekiah became king of Judah after the death of king Ahaz. He was a godly king and commanded that the people go back to the worshiping the One true God. He destroyed all of the idols and re-opened the Temple in Jerusalem and had it repaired. He reinstated the celebration of Passover and that year the feast lasted for 2 whole weeks.

One day the king of Assyria, Sennacherib, decided to lay siege to Jerusalem. The people were very afraid because the Assyrian army was strong and had taken over many cities. But, king Hezekiah told them to trust God to fight for them.

King Sennecherib sent one of his servants over to the wall of Jerusalem and told him to brag about how powerful he was. He also told them that since the gods of the other nations couldn't save them, why should they think that their God could do a better job?

Instead of just giving up, king Hezekiah and Isaiah both cried out to the Lord about this. The next morning, the entire Assyrian army was found dead in their camp because the Lord had sent an angel to destroy them! Sennecherib ended up going home in shame.

This is an example of what happens when people mock God. They may get away with it for a while since He is slow to anger, but as the saying goes; "you can run but you can not hide". God will not allow His name to be "dragged through the mud" so to speak. He is all powerful and He always wins.

In today's culture, mocking God is nothing strange. Everyday, I see on TV or in the newspaper, people voluntarily going against God's laws. People take His name in vain and think nothing of it. Laws are passed that give people free reign to go against God's instructions. I even saw a promo for a new fall TV show that is about a demon from Hell and his wife and how they interact with their neighbors! It is even animated and sold as a comedy!

There will be a day of reckoning. No one is going to be mocking God when they stand trembling before Him to give an account of their actions. He will one day make all things right.

Most Bible scholars are of the opinion that we are living in the last days. If we truly are, then believers need to be busy about speaking the gospel to everyone they come in contact with. It should be our top priority to be "missional" like Pastor Matt tells us, while there is still time.

The Gospel Spoken

Here we are in Louisville, KY and we are so close to getting settled in. Just one more week (Lord willing) and we should have all of our books, tools, and even the kitchen utensils within our nice new apartment. You never really know what you have and how much you need it, until you have to live without it. Take, for example, flower vases. I own them, but because I left them packed in my storage unit when we moved into our temporary apartment, they are entirely useless to me. So although I have a lovely silk floral arrangement to brighten the spirits of all who enter my house, it sits hidden away on top of the refrigerator in a pile because my vase is still packed away in storage. This is a great picture of our lives too!

I was saved from a life of rebellion and pride. In my heart I practiced and delighted in every evil way. I was destined for wrath and judgement and, quite frankly, if I had continued down the road that I was on, I probably would have ended up in a hopeless life filled with desperation. But the amazing thing is that while I was living this awful, self-centered, repugnant life, Jesus opened the door and walked into my life bringing with Him His wonderful life-giving light and the Holy Spirit to change me and quicken my heart and soul! He opened my eyes to see the good news that Jesus died for my sins and actually took them from me and bore them (every filthy one of them!) upon His own pure body! He filled my heart with love for this gracious God who would leave the beauties of Heaven to live a humble servant's life, so that He could purify me and make me His bride and present me holy and blameless to God the Father who's plan this was from before time! He died the perfect death, satisfying the penalty for my sins, and rose from the dead three days later because God the Father accepted Jesus' sacrifice as good and right and perfect. Then He went back up into Heaven and He is getting a special place ready for me there, so that I can live there with Him someday! And Jesus says that He didn't just do this for me, but that He did it for every one who believes on Him! This is the best thing to ever happen to me. In fact this is the biggest most valuable treasure that I could ever possess!

Yet... all too often I pack up this treasure in a cardboard box and stuff it into the back of my "storage unit" where it collects dust and is entirely useless. Just like my lovely flowers that are just waiting to show forth their beauty and bring a smile to those who will see them, so too this "gospel of the glory of God as seen in the face of Jesus Christ" is ready to burst forth and bring life and light into the lives of people that God has providentially put in my life. But just as I hinder the "work" of beautiful flowers by not displaying them, so too, I hinder the work of the gospel by not speaking it! God's word says in Romans 10: 17 "So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ". It says that God will effectively work out His will through the speaking of His word in Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." Just as God sent Isaiah with a message to His people, He has sent us with a message of hope to the world. God will save! God will redeem! What a wonderful message of joy and reconciliation we have within our hearts! And what a shame when we store it up and do not display it's beauty for all to see. We must speak the good news so that people will hear and will be changed by the Holy Spirit and come to Jesus!


Oh that the Holy Spirit would cause us to be filled with boldness and that the overflow of the joy that we have in knowing Jesus as our Savior would fill our lives and our mouths everyday, so that God's magnificence is displayed through us; and in others as well!

Be A Light

As many of you know, I work in a deli. I would like to tell you a story about a young high school girl I work with. We will call her Emma.

Emma goes to church (sometimes), attends a youth group, and just recently took off a week of work to go on a missions trip. She is not overly outspoken about her faith and its definition, but does often mention that she is "hanging out with her friends from youth group" or "needs to leave a little early today because we are having a missions trip meeting." She is a nice person, dresses modestly, and doesn't swear. So what is the point?

Simply this: Emma is one of our worst sandwich girls. She is incredibly slow and almost always does a sloppy job. She mixes up customer's orders, burns sandwiches, and runs out of food. She has been reprimanded many times and has a growing number of restrictions being put upon her. The most recent is that she is no longer allowed to answer the phone (because she simply cannot be trusted to accurately take down orders), which is usually supposed to be the sandwich girl's top priority.

Why am I telling you this? Because this young girl professes to be a Christian. All of the other sandwich girls know Emma and talk to Emma. They know she goes to church and is even committed enough to go on missions trips and hang out regularly at youth group. But they all hate her! None of them like her. She is lazy and causes them extra work. They collectively groan if they hear Emma is working that day and make many jokes about her behind her back.

It has been on my mind a lot lately that Emma, whether she knows it or not, is being a witness to these girls. The problem is that she is being a bad witness!

The Bible commands us to "do our work as heartily unto the Lord" and urges us to do "whatever our hand finds to do, do it with all your might." We are told that fruits of the spirit include patience and faithfulness. We are commanded to be the ambassadors of Christ.

None of Emma's co-workers want to be like her. None of them. And all of them know that Emma claims to be a Christian.

Please do not be like Emma. Please do not be the person at work that no one likes to see show up and everyone loves to see go home. Rather, be the person that outworks everyone else. Be the one who is always cheerful, who never talks behind backs, who is always part of the solution and never the problem. Be the employee the boss loves to employ. Be every supervisor's dream.

I have had many opportunities to witness to people at my work because of these types of things. I do not claim to be God's gift to the work force, but I do believe in working hard and I do believe in giving all the glory to God. Lately, though, my witness has been tarnished. My co-workers are wondering if maybe I am simply a fluke, that the fact I work hard and stay cheerful is just my personality and has nothing to do with this God I talk about.

For those of you who don't work, the same principles apply. Don't be the person at small groups always causing controversy. When there is a get-together at church, be the first to volunteer to stay late and help clean up. When you take the kids out to the restaurant, pleasantly surprise the restaurant employees by keeping your children under control. Speak pleasantly to people in line at the grocery store.

You never know when God will give you an opportunity to publicly praise His name. Don't ruin your chances before hand because you are having a bad day and don't think snapping on a few strangers is really going to matter.

Remember, we are called to be the light of the world. And we can not do this when we are offending the people around us. 1st Peter 3:17 "For it is better, if God should will it so, that you suffer for doing what is right rather than for doing what is wrong." If the people at work don't like you, let it be because you work so hard that you make them look bad. If the servers at the restaurant don't like you, let it be because they are jealous that you have your kids under such great control.

We are always around people, people who are watching to see just what is a Christian, really. And people always remember the bad longer than they remember the good. Don't let the name of Jesus be tarnished because of us.

Take the example of my mom. I love her and she is a much wiser woman than me. I remember one day, we were driving down the road and the person in front of us was really an idiot. She clearly did not know how do drive, how to read road (including speed) signs, and was swerving around her lane a lot. We did not feel safe. After only a moment of driving behind her, my mom and I noticed that she had one of those fish on the back of her car. My mom sighed and said that this was the reason she would never get one of those fish on her car. She was afraid that one day she wouldn't be paying attention, that she would cut someone off, or get angry, or run a red light, and that someone would see it and see the fish and associate it with Christianity and ultimately with Jesus. And she decided that the small fun of having a fish on the back of her car was too much of a risk of possibly (inadvertently) defaming the name of her Lord. And so she has no fish.

Let us decide today to put aside our pride and our hurry and instead be mindful of the fact that we are ambassadors of our Lord. And let us boldly and proudly declare His gracious work in our lives.