Spreading the Word
The story is told of a small dog which had been struck by a car and was lying by the side of the road. A doctor, driving by, noticed that the dog was still alive, stopped his car, picked up the dog, and took him home with him. There he discovered that the dog had been stunned, had suffered a few minor cuts and abrasions, but was otherwise all right. He revived the dog, cleaned up the wounds and was carrying the animal from the house to the garage when suddenly it jumped from his arms and scampered off. “What an ungrateful little dog,” the doctor said to himself. He thought no more about the incident until the next evening when he heard a scratching at the door. When he opened it, there was the little dog he had treated with another hurt dog.
What Kind of Method?
One day a lady criticized D. L. Moody for his methods of evangelism in attempting to win people to the Lord. Moody’s reply was “I agree with you. I don’t like the way I do it, either. Tell me, how do you do it?” The lady replied, “I don’t do it.” Moody retorted, “Then I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”
The Snowball Effect
“How can I ever repay you?” asked a person of a friend who had done him a great favor. “I shall forever be indebted to you for your kindness.” “Not necessarily,” answered the friend. “If you really want to repay me, keep your eye open for somebody who needs help as badly as you did, and help him. If you are willing to do this, I shall be fully repaid for I shall enjoy the warm feeling that someday—through you—I shall have helped a fellow I didn’t even know.”
Our Task in the Darkness
At age twelve, Robert Louis Stevenson was looking out into the dark from his upstairs window watching a man light the streetlamps. Stevenson’s governess came into the room and asked what he was doing. He replied, “I am watching a man cut holes in the darkness.” I see this as a marvelous picture of what our task should be as sharers of God’s light—people who are busy cutting holes in the spiritual darkness of our world.
Tell Someone Else, My Brothers
A monastery in Germany trained Christian brothers for various responsibilities within the Roman Catholic church. One Christian brother in training lived in mortal fear of being called upon to preach the sermon in the daily chapel exercises. As this young man thought about his apprehension, he decided to head it off by going to the monitor of the monastery and discussing the problem with him. In the course of the conversation, he said, “Sir, I am willing to do any menial job that you assign me. I would be delighted to go out into the fields and plow, fertilize, and irrigate them by hand to increase the productivity. If you would care for me to do so, I would be happy to get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floors here in the monastery. It would be a privilege for me to polish the silverware. Any menial job that you call upon me to do, I shall be happy to do. However, please don’t ask me to preach a sermon in the chapel.”
The monitor, looking at the young man and recognizing that an assignment to preach was exactly what he needed, replied, “Tomorrow you are to conduct the chapel and preach the sermon.” The next day as this young brother stood behind the pulpit and looked out into the eyes of his peers who had assembled in the sanctuary, he was greatly apprehensive. He was so nervous he hardly knew what to do. He started his sermon by asking, “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?” They all shook their heads in the negative. He continued, “Neither do I. Let’s stand for the benediction. Pax vobiscum.”
Naturally, the monitor was infuriated by this. He said to the young man, “I am going to give you a second chance. Tomorrow you are to conduct the service in the chapel, and this time I want you to preach a message.”
The next day the scene was the same. And the young man began as he had the day before, “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?” When they all nodded their heads in the affirmative, he said, “Since you already know, there is no point in my saying it. Let’s stand for the benediction. Pax vobiscum.”
The monitor was livid with anger. Once again he went to the young brother and literally roared at him, “I am tired of your chicanery. Tomorrow I am going to give you a third chance. If you don’t come through, I am going to put you in solitary confinement on bread and water.”
The third day the scene was the same. The brother began as he had the previous two days, “Brothers, do you know what I am going to say?” Some nodded their heads in the affirmative. Some shook their heads in the negative. He then said, “Let those who know tell those who don’t. Let’s stand for the benediction. Pax vobiscum.”
Why Rush?
An ancient story recalls how Satan once summoned his top three aides to plan how to stop a group of dedicated Christians from effective missionary work.
One of the lieutenants, Rancor, said to Satan, “We should convince them that there is no God.” Satan sneered at Rancor and replied, “That would never work. They know that there is a God.”
Another of Satan’s aides, Bitterness, spoke up. “We’ll convince them that God does not really care about right and wrong.” Satan toyed with the notion for a few moments, but rejected it because he knew that too many Christians know that God does care.
Malice, the third satanic helper, came up with his idea. “We’ll let them go on thinking that there is a God and that He cares about right and wrong. But we will keep whispering that there is no hurry, there is no hurry.”
Satan howled with glee. He advanced Malice higher in his malevolent organization. Satan knew that he would find this stratagem successful with many, many Christians. –Frank S. Mead
Betraying the Secret
A group of prospectors set out from Bannock, Montana (then capital of the state), in search of gold. They went through many hardships and several of their little company died en route. Finally they were overtaken by the Indians who took their good horses, leaving them with only a few limping old ponies. Then they threatened them, telling them to get back to Bannock and stay there, for if they overtook them again, they would murder the lot of them. Defeated, discouraged, and downhearted, the prospectors sought to make their way back to the capital city. On one occasion, as they tethered out the limping ponies on a creekside, one of the men casually picked up a little stone from the creek bed. He called to his buddy for a hammer and upon cracking the rock, he said, “It looks as though there may be gold here.” The two of them panned gold the rest of the afternoon and managed to realize twelve dollars’ worth. The entire little company panned gold the next day in the same creek and realized fifty dollars, a great sum in those days. They said to one another: “We have struck it!” They made their way back to Bannock and vowed not to breathe a word concerning this gold strike. They secretively set about re-equipping themselves with supplies for another prospecting trip. But when they got ready to go back, three hundred men followed them. Who had told on them? No one! Their beaming faces betrayed the secret!
If we have been enamored with Christ, Whom having not seen we love, we should be unable to conceal the treasure: our beaming faces should betray the secret! –L. E. Maxwell