In ninth grade, my brother Andy’s locker partner was Kevin, the school’s drug dealer. One fall day Kevin had a bad trip on LSD. The bad trip continued in a small series of scary flashbacks, and Kevin asked Andy if God had anything to say about it.
My brother had just had a Sunday school lesson that reviewed the Four Spiritual Laws. He even had a copy with him. Together Andy and Kevin read the tract, and Kevin prayed the prayer on the last page:
Lord, I want to know you personally … Take control of the throne of my life.
Kevin’s life abruptly changed. He told everybody at school that Andy had just introduced him to God. Kevin’s old customers came to Andy to meet God, and Andy took them through the pamphlet, and they met God. They soon asked Andy additional questions, like: How do you pray? How do you read Scripture? How do you handle temptation?
Andy didn’t know the answers, so he asked my parents. My parents made suggestions, and Andy parroted them to his new friends. And their lives changed even more!
One day someone asked a question he couldn’t answer. On the way home from school, Andy slipped into a telephone booth (you can find examples in the Smithsonian), and he really prayed for the first time in his life. And he met God.
Andy’s life totally, and completely, and immediately changed. I’m his little brother. I witnessed it.
Headlines Are the Worst Litmus Test
It is so tempting to measure our spiritual stature by our converts, followers, or Facebook likes. But my brother Andy is not the first person to bear fruit without surrendering his life. God used Andy to convert dozens of students before he himself was a true disciple. Scripture forbids us to fixate on our headlines:
- A donkey prophesied to Balaam, but nobody has ever suggested the donkey was anything other than an ass.
- Jonah’s sermon convicts 120,000 people who repent, but Jonah himself was an intolerant, grace-lacking bigot (who probably would have detested St. Francis).
- Scripture says, “many” will prophesy, cast out demons, and do miracles,” and Jesus himself will declare, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”
If we minister to thousands, if our kids are perfect, or if our marriages are exemplary, we should take no credit, and we certainly should not trust that fruit as proof of our spiritual genius.
God is merciful, and He pours out rain on both the just and the unjust. And since He sees the neediness of this world, He also works through both the just and the unjust.
Let’s not trust our headlines.
We Need to Look Elsewhere
When the disciples return from a mission trip, they rejoice at all the miracles they performed. Jesus tells them to rejoice rather in the relationship they have with him.
We injure God’s life in us through our fixation on the work He does through us.
God does perform good deeds in our lives, but He also creates storms that cleanse us of our conceit. He sends each of us on detours, to phonebooths or whales, where our headlines are stripped away, and we stand naked before Him. Jonah faced the puzzle a God who could love heathens, and my brother Andy faced a spiritual question he couldn’t answer.
We can enter those phonebooths as humble Clark Kent’s and emerge with a super-natural power that glorifies God’s Name (not ours), or we can enter the phonebooth captivated by our superman headlines.
And emerge as an ass.
Sam
“I’d Never Do That” – Or Would We?
Excellent! Thanks Sam!
I’m having this conversation with a self-admitted demon-afflicted person now. He wants to regale me with his “headlines” from days gone by, but knows he’s not following Jesus now. So frustrating!!!
Everyone is just so foolish!
(Except you and me 🙂 )
Sam
Wow
Excellent lesson!
I know I am an ass compared to Jesus. I have to remember that and keep on following the Master.
We all are. And admitting it (headlines or not) is the first step toward healing!
Sam
I’m almost 75 years old, and was saved at the age of 23. As the decades have passed, I’ve become increasingly disappointment in the showmanship behind the pulpits in many of America’s churches. Please God, create circumstances in the lives of these pastors, in hopes that at least some will never, ever, ever have to hear the words, “depart from me.”
Excellent article, Sam.
Hi Linda,
Thanks for you great line, “showmanship behind the pulpits”!! I love it. (You may see me quoting in someday 🙂 )
Alas, we Christians are meant to bring the gospel into the world, but far, far too often, the world brings its own perversions into God’s people. We’ve become infected with the idea of larger and larger audiences and greater and greater “likes.”
We forget that Gideon conquered with only 300 soldiers and Jesus had only 12 disciples.
The way Andy’s experience worked out is pretty strange. It rings true to me, even though it confuses me at a heart level. I know doctrinally that it’s the Word of God that brings people into faith in Jesus Christ–just like in Andy’s experience–and also, doctrinally I know, that a person can be fruitful with outreach without being faith filled or obedient. Ok. But it’s jarring, and rattles something, maybe the Jonah+Jacob/Israel tag team in my heart of hearts. Hey, He who started a good work will bring it to completion by That Great Day, I do believe and give thanks for.
Thanks for the article.
Hi Bruce,
Your closing comment (He who began a good work will bring it to completion) is ever-so encouraging, especially in the midst of our difficulties.
Andy’s story doesn’t contradict that at all.
At the same time, I’ve seen too many “celebrity” Christian leaders whose lives are a mess but whose followers seem to justify them by saying, “But look at all the fruit!”
I think the REAL fruit God is looking for is the Fruit of the Spirit. He can do miracles through an unchanged donkey, but real Fruit of the Spirit comes from a life surrendered to Him.
Which is what God wanted from the beginning.
“I’ve seen too many ‘celebrity’ Christian leaders whose lives are a mess but whose followers seem to justify them by saying, ‘But look at all the fruit!’
“I think the REAL fruit God is looking for is the Fruit of the Spirit. He can do miracles through an unchanged donkey, but real Fruit of the Spirit comes from a life surrendered to Him.
“Which is what God wanted from the beginning.”
Sam, can I quote you on that? lol
I’ve always struggled with the way God uses people like Jonah and Samson. And your brother. And the man I knew years ago who was an overly-controlling husband and father to the point of destroying all his relationships with his family, yet could teach fruitful lessons in adult Sunday school classes.
Sometimes I don’t like God’s methods. I want a God who uses people like me who have dedicated their lives to Him and followed Him faithfully (although not perfectly) for many years. But I realized after reading your article that what’s really behind my dislike of this situation is my envy of the unjust who have bigger headlines than mine. My covetousness. My breaking of the tenth commandment. Oops.
At the same time, all these distasteful stories present an opportunity for me to see God’s unbounded grace and His powerful fulfillment of the promise in Romans 8:28. In the case of Jonah, as he was on the boat running away from God, “God used His prophet’s flagrant disobedience and rebellion to offer salvation for all eternity to men who might not have that opportunity otherwise. He brought the greatest good from the darkest evil. He brought the possibility of salvation to those who were lost, as a direct result of the sin of one of His servants.” (From my article, “Failing Like Jonah” at http://christianwomenonline.net/2020/09/05/failing-like-jonah/)
Hi Ann,
I love many things about your comment, especially these two:
-I love your ironic, ” I want a God who uses people like me who have dedicated their lives to Him …” (Yes, we all think that!)
-And I love your realization of our envy of the “fruitful”
I’m glad God works wonders through ordinary, even unspiritual people (“like me” 🙂 ) because: a) it completely undermines any pride I might get if I do something well (I must just be an ass), b) and it CAN (or should) undermine our despair when our works do not seem so wonderous, and c) it really means I can begin to simply delight that He gets all the glory!
Thanks for sharing your article. Really, really good.
Sam
Hi Sam,
It took me a minute to fully understand the concept of your story. Not because it didn’t make sense (it made perfect sense) but because I saw my brain go into so many scenarios. I thought about how that was so true in mine and my husbands life. We’ve taken part in so many ministries and it wasn’t until I got sick a few years ago that we realized how far away we were from a real conversion. It wasn’t until we both experienced the fire, much like in your story where Andy found himself unable to answer. That my husband and I actually experienced God for the first time. Since, I’ve come to realized that my eagerness to share the gospel had to change. It was no longer based on what I could bring but what God could bring to me or out of me. I also realized that I never really allowed God’s seed to fully germinate in my heart. If you can imagine I was going around sharing dust instead of fruit. I find myself even now that the seed is planted that I just want to share all my experience in hopes it helps someone else. I end up creating more harm than good. God sees our hearts and is waiting for a growth before we can actually share of the fruits that His seed has to offer. I wonder how many are out there sharing dust?
Maria
Hi Maria,
Your sharing is personal and powerful, and I am so deeply moved.
Thank you ever-so-much,
Sam