Chuck Swindoll once remarked, “There are two great events in your life. One is the day you were born; and the other is when you asked ‘Why?’”
Strangely, the ‘Why’ has never been a problem with me. I have known as long as I can remember that my vocational calling was to serve God in one capacity or another. When I was around 5 years old I promised the little girl next door that I would give her an apple if she would listen to me preach. She agreed, and I must say was an attentive audience of one. Problem is, when I handed her the apple across the fence, she took a bite out of the apple and then announced, “I am a Catholic, and I don’t believe a word of it!” And, with that she ran towards her home with me in hot pursuit.
Fortunately—for her, and me, too, perhaps—she made it inside and locked the door behind her. So, to really get back at her, I splattered the whole side of her newly painted home. That gave me a great deal of satisfaction, especially since it was white and the black mud really showed up.
Following that, as mother reminded me years later; I went home and immediately went to my least favorite spot: a chair in the corner. Mother then asked, “Jimmy, what did you do?”
I said, “You’ll find out pretty soon,” and just continued to sit there.
Well, it wasn’t long before I heard the girl’s mother stomping across our back porch. And, of course, the rest is history.
I learned two things that day: one was I wasn’t Catholic, and number two was that it was sure a lot easier muddying the side of the house up than cleaning it off.
Life is like that isn’t it? Sometimes—most times for some—our purposes are noble, but we just can’t see beyond mudding the situation up when things do not go our way.
Many a pastor has muddied up a congregation or particular members because things just didn’t go as he expected. Perhaps, his apple had a worm in it, or they just weren’t ready for his sermonic treat—not hungry enough or whatever. In any event things were only made worst by his reaction. This applies to missionaries and other Christians as well; so, no I am not picking on pastors since this applies to all.
Years ago, I pastored a small church in Southern California. The district officials had encourage me to take the pastorate with one of them remarking, “Jim, you can’t make it any worst, they have had 19 pastors in the last 20 years.”
Upon arrival, I found a pretty sizable group in the church that were not contributing one cent to the church. In my first board meeting I asked why and was told that these members were some of the finest in the congregation previously, but absolutely detested my predecessor so they sabotaged anything he was for—things like missions, funds for outreach, the Sunday school, choir, what have you, if he were for it they were against it. Of course, one of the most potent tools in their arsenal was money. So, they tried starving the poor fellow out and when that didn’t work the ballot did.
He was gone, and probably for good cause. The way that they went about it, however, only muddied up the situation and acerbated the problem. It took us months to recover.
Why do I even mention all of this? Well, simply for this cause: Perhaps, one of us is dissatisfied with the way Springfield "runs" things, or you think your pastor is not up to par, or whatever; if so, please don't muddy up the situation by withdrawing your gifts, because if you do, you are hurting the Kingdom of God.
Yours For A Greater End Time Harvest,
P.S. Continue to pray for our ministry in the former Soviet Union and in Southern Asia.
Strangely, the ‘Why’ has never been a problem with me. I have known as long as I can remember that my vocational calling was to serve God in one capacity or another. When I was around 5 years old I promised the little girl next door that I would give her an apple if she would listen to me preach. She agreed, and I must say was an attentive audience of one. Problem is, when I handed her the apple across the fence, she took a bite out of the apple and then announced, “I am a Catholic, and I don’t believe a word of it!” And, with that she ran towards her home with me in hot pursuit.
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| Galatians 6:7 |
Following that, as mother reminded me years later; I went home and immediately went to my least favorite spot: a chair in the corner. Mother then asked, “Jimmy, what did you do?”
I said, “You’ll find out pretty soon,” and just continued to sit there.
Well, it wasn’t long before I heard the girl’s mother stomping across our back porch. And, of course, the rest is history.
I learned two things that day: one was I wasn’t Catholic, and number two was that it was sure a lot easier muddying the side of the house up than cleaning it off.
Life is like that isn’t it? Sometimes—most times for some—our purposes are noble, but we just can’t see beyond mudding the situation up when things do not go our way.
Many a pastor has muddied up a congregation or particular members because things just didn’t go as he expected. Perhaps, his apple had a worm in it, or they just weren’t ready for his sermonic treat—not hungry enough or whatever. In any event things were only made worst by his reaction. This applies to missionaries and other Christians as well; so, no I am not picking on pastors since this applies to all.
Years ago, I pastored a small church in Southern California. The district officials had encourage me to take the pastorate with one of them remarking, “Jim, you can’t make it any worst, they have had 19 pastors in the last 20 years.”
Upon arrival, I found a pretty sizable group in the church that were not contributing one cent to the church. In my first board meeting I asked why and was told that these members were some of the finest in the congregation previously, but absolutely detested my predecessor so they sabotaged anything he was for—things like missions, funds for outreach, the Sunday school, choir, what have you, if he were for it they were against it. Of course, one of the most potent tools in their arsenal was money. So, they tried starving the poor fellow out and when that didn’t work the ballot did.
He was gone, and probably for good cause. The way that they went about it, however, only muddied up the situation and acerbated the problem. It took us months to recover.
Why do I even mention all of this? Well, simply for this cause: Perhaps, one of us is dissatisfied with the way Springfield "runs" things, or you think your pastor is not up to par, or whatever; if so, please don't muddy up the situation by withdrawing your gifts, because if you do, you are hurting the Kingdom of God.
Yours For A Greater End Time Harvest,
P.S. Continue to pray for our ministry in the former Soviet Union and in Southern Asia.
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