Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I will be like the dew to Israel;
    he will blossom like a lily.
Like a cedar of Lebanon
    he will send down his roots;

• Hosea 14:5

“The New Testament notices things which from our standpoint do not seem to count. For instance. Our Lord called only twelve disciples, but what about all those other disciples of His who were not specially called? The twelve disciples were called for a special purpose; but there were hundreds who followed Jesus and were sincere believers in Him who were unnoticed. We are apt to have a disproportionate view of a Christian because we look only at the exceptions. The exceptions stand out as exceptions. The extraordinary conversions and phenomenal experiences are magnificent specimen studies of what happens in the life of everyone, but not one in a million has an experience such as the Apostle Paul had. The majority of us are unnoticed and unnoticeable people. If we take the extraordinary experiences as a model for the Christian life, we erect a wrong standard without knowing it, and in the passing of the years we produce that worst abortion, the spiritual prig—-an intolerable un-likeness to Jesus Christ. The man or woman who becomes a spiritual prig does so by imperceptible degrees, but the starting-point is a departure from the evangel of the New Testament and a building up on the evangel of Protestantism.”

• Oswald Chambers, The Ministry of the Unnoticed (Daily thoughts for Disciples, June 20)

Rev. Chambers uses a couple of words that today might seem harsh, especially in our modern PC (politically correct) world.  I have been chastised for using the word “abortion” in the context Rev. Chambers does here.  “Abortion” has a very narrow definition, and it is an emotional and political issue.

But let’s look at the word “prig.”  The basic definition is someone that is extremely moralistic and who looks down on everyone else.  In British English, a prig is overly zealous about form and propriety.  In combining these definitions, what Rev. Chambers is saying is that a spiritual prig is someone with little “heart” in his zeal for looking like a Christian, but not being like Jesus at all.

We cannot manufacture our lives into being the next Billy Graham.  Even if your name is Billy Graham, it is not the same as being the guy who travelled the world and made a difference in millions of people’s lives.

But the angels sing whenever one soul is saved.  If you contributed in that, even if you didn’t “close the deal,” the angels are still singing.

We can accomplish more on the home front by not being “the guy.”

What we must do is to ask God what His will is for our lives and be ready to say “Yes” when the time comes.

I know someone that has said a few times that he feels God is leading him to evangelism.  He is very mild mannered and soft spoken.  But in his volunteer work at the church, he comes into contact with a lot of people who might not be hearing the gospel.  And he sits down with them and talks to them.  Does he “close the deal?”  Is that for you or me to say?  We do as God leads us.

We become the dew, that wet stuff that hardly anyone notices, but then the wildflowers bloom.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.