Put A Pebble In Their Shoe
It's happens to all of us. We're walking along and suddenly become aware of a nagging little bump beneath the sole of our foot. Perhaps we're in a hurry and don't want to take the time to address it, so we try to ignore it. We're just too busy; it's not worth the effort.
Or perhaps we're not in an appropriate place or position to stop and remove our shoe to address the discomfort, so, again, we try to ignore it. We keep walking, trying to convince ourselves that it's fine, this is fine, no big deal.
But sure enough, there comes a time when we just can't ignore it any longer ... the shoe, and maybe even the sock or stocking, needs to come off so we can shake out the tiny pebble which made itself at home just beneath soft, tender pad of our foot.
Many (if not most) evangelical Christians get so nervous about witnessing to others. We fret not having all the answers, or feeling inadequate in presenting the "whole" of the Gospel message. So we shrink back and say nothing. But does this dichotomy of choices really exist? Or is there something in between?
Christian author, Greg Koukl, speaking to The Gospel Coalition, had this to say:
A wise ambassador ... weighs his opportunities and adopts an appropriate strategy for each occasion. ... Now here is my own more modest goal. I want to put a [pebble] in his shoe. All I want to do is give him something worth thinking about. I want him to hobble away on a nugget of truth he can’t simply ignore because it continues to poke at him.
Effective witness doesn't have to include a full, five point Gospel presentation. Sometimes all that's necessary is a little "nugget of truth" that nags at the unbeliever's conscience or phyche, until they simply cannot ignore it any longer. They have no choice but to "deal" with it, giving it greater consideration.
What they do with that nugget isn't our responsibility. It's entirely on them now. Will they simply remove it and toss it aside? Will they take it out and ponder how it got in there? Will it cause them to pause and consider further truth?
Remember, next time you feel intimiated to "present the Gospel" to an unbelieving relative, friend, or even stranger ... you don't have to drop a boulder on their head. You just need to drop a pebble in their shoe.
Matthew 13: 3-9 (NIV):
A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Suffering Makes Us Glow
A mom told me a story about a time she was standing in a long checkout line with her two boys. One was a toddler, and the other was a big kid. The big kid had a pack of glow sticks, and the toddler was screaming for one. The mother was exasperated. She grabbed the bag of glow sticks, opened it up, and gave one to the toddler.
Instantly he stopped crying. He stood there with the glow stick, smiling. Just tickled. Then his big brother took the glow stick from him, and he started crying again. Just as the mom was about to lay into the big brother, he bent the glow stick so it started glowing.
Then he handed it back to his little brother, who was now amazed with it. The big brother told him, “I had to break it so it would glow.”
Sometimes God has to break us, so we can glow. That’s why he allows us to suffer. That toddler would have been content to play with his unbroken glow stick, because he had no idea how beautiful it could be. Similarly, we are content with the way things are. We don’t know why God has to break us. But God knows how beautiful we can be when we glow.
The Two Lives Of Mr. Black
Brian Hickey, with PhillyVoice, reports on the strange case of a Mr. Black, who required two obituaries.
In the first obit, his “loving wife, Bearetta Harrison Black” gets top survivor billing. In the second, however, Bearetta is nowhere to be found, but “his long-tome (sic) girlfriend, Princess Hall” appears in her place.
A man answering the phone at Greenidge Funeral Homes told PhillyVoice that the obituaries were placed separately because "the wife wanted it one way, and the girlfriend wanted it another way." But he did not anticipate any problems because everybody knew it was happening.
Mr. Black had lived two separate lives, acknowledged in two separate obituaries. How about you? How many lives do you live? Do you present one persona to one group of friends and something quite different to another? If an honest report were given, would you require one obit or two?
“... Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:8).